Pokemon and the Shapeshifter
by admael7014
Summary: Ash started his training one day and came in possession of an egg, doesn't know the contents of the egg would change his life and those he knows, turning into a role that goes beyond himself. R&R. chapters 1 and 8 updated
1. The Unusual Egg

(All right. Hopefully my edits to this chapter makes it a smoother read. I moved the facts that were before the epilogue into the actual storyline, and encourage new readers to be patient and try to read through what you can. I don't mind skimming, since this first chapter has a lot of monotony, but keep in mind it does get better as I get a chance to get into the storyline as well as... well, I don't want to spoil it. As always, I own nothing of pokemon, or else i'd be quite rich and wouldn't need to steal money from people who like writing about my stuff and making it even more well liked... so go eat your own eula corporates =p. Loyal fans don't want to steal from you so return the favor!)

(I also add I realize I haven't quite got ash appropriately pegged at first. Its been a while since I've dealt with Ash and some of my memories have been reverted to what I remember when he started. This will be addressed, but I've started over too many times and I really need to just keep rolling and see how far I go storyline wise.)

Epilogue

"Everything is ready sir."

"Are you sure? We don't want another screw-up like the last time now do we?"

"No! Of course not! I have personally overseen the calculations and equipment. There is no possible way this would fail."

"Let's hope so, for your sake. Otherwise, it will be the worse for you."

The man shuddered from his position in front of the screen. He prayed it would not be visible. He looked up and saw, thankfully, that it had gone blank. He breathed a sigh of relief. The scientist straightened his white lab-coat, and stepped out of the room to where others were assembling huge machinery.

For what purpose this strange equipment was to be used, no one knew. He made sure of that. Even those who were putting the machines together had to be carefully supervised; and anyone who broke even the smallest piece would await terrible retribution from their leader. All that was known to them was that the punishment would be something that would always remind them of this day.

The scientist thought to himself, 'so, it has begun. I hope Giovanni knows what he's doing...'

It was about 6:30 AM on Monday. This boy went about taking care of his duties in the house: showering, checking the garbage can, eating, and all the things of that nature. By 7:05, he was standing at the end of the driveway, waiting for the bus. Not needing to wait long, he stood under the awning of his high school at around 7:30. Nothing was different that shouldn't have been as he walked up to the doors. As he approached them, it seemed like the lights were dimmed; not just inside the building, but even the sun seemed more dingy than beforehand. Taking no notice of this as of yet, attributing it to fatigue, he went forward to open one of the doors. For some reason, when he went through the doorway, he noticed that he was alone in the entryway. It seemed rather odd to him, but he did not want to be marked as tardy for his class; so, he stepped through the second set of doors, despite the pounding in his chest and the near-absolute darkness. He only was able to take one safe step, the next set him falling through the air, flailing wildy as he screamed out in mindless terror.

It is spring in Pallet town as Ash trains hard to keep in shape and be ready for the next challenge he would be able to undertake. He had no tournaments to compete in, at least anywhere close. He was on the outskirts of Viridian Forest when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Not being able to resist, he called to Pikachu and headed toward the area of what had caught his attention. As he moved forward, he was rewarded with a sight of a pink form of a ditto, which changed to match that of a bellsprout which was by a tree further away from the two. Ash smiled to himself as he realized just how lucky he was at finding this rare of a pokemon in a casual run for training. He smiled to Pikachu on his shoulder, who nodded to him, and they went after it, charging headlong and shouting their challenge.

He was falling and that scared him. He almost surprised himself as the thought came to his mind that, it wasn't necessarily the falling that scared him, only hitting the ground that was sure to be coming up to meet him. He continued to flail about in the darkness, and for the first few seconds, the darkness was absolute. Then the darkness gradually grew distant as light filtered in. From what he could see when that light filtered in, he would have preferred the darkness. He saw a wide forest stretching out for miles on one side, which was currently at his left, and to his right, he saw a grassy plain. As he fell, he began to despair. Thoughts rushed through his mind like how he wished he could have applied himself more, how he would have liked to say goodbye. He had closed his eyes and tried to relax, and let his death rush past him in an instant without pain when he would hit that field. Time seemed to halt for him even though the wind whipped through his ears like a tornado. Unknowingly, a small amount of pressure hit him on the side, hardly noticeable. As soon as it hit though, there was a change in direction from the wind. Instead of pulling him up, it pulled him to his right. He did not struggle; for he was too intent in preventing what was obviously the inevitable. Just as suddenly as any of this absurdity started, it was over. A complete silence came upon him and it was welcomed gladly in his heart, but something was still not right. He noticed gravity was still in effect, but he was not falling. He was floating, but still upright. As he started to try to understand his surroundings, he felt his weariness over worrying about his fate and soon was asleep. Without realizing it, seeming very natural at the time, curled into a ball with his head at his knees; all the while, he was unaware of the cocoon that was enveloping him.

Ash knew that Pikachu could handle itself, but he still called out attacks where he saw fit. For some reason, the ditto stayed as a bellsprout, and then he remembered that the electricity didn't affect it at all. As Pikachu attacked, it found itself hard pressed to fight back and figure out a way to escape at the same time. Pikachu dodged many of the incoming attacks and then launched a headbut at it, which threw it flying. Ash, for a split moment, wondered why it didn't try to root itself in the ground, but remembered what he was trying to do. Pulling a pokeball out of his pocket, he readied it. As soon as it hit the ground, he threw the pokeball, ignorant of the whistling sound that was growing louder by the second. All his mind focused on was catching that rare pokemon. He watched it fly right on target, which was only about 30 feet away, and as his hopes ran higher, something fell right in the way, and by the time he realized it, there was nothing there other than the pokeball lying on the ground. The ditto got back up, saw a beedril in the distance, turned into it and flew off. Frustrated, he started with his training again, getting his pokemon to fight each other and compete in different ways. He just managed to get everyone started, when the pokeball that had failed him and he forgot to pick up opened and revealed its contents, an egg.

He approached it somewhat slowly, looking it over, not realizing at first what it was. It was oddly colored since it was a deep blue color and some lighter blue specks on its shell, with just hints of green in the light blue. It was about half as tall as pikachu, and about half as round. Pikachu walked up to it, touched it, and looked up at Ash.

"pika pi?"

Ash picked up the egg, surprised at the size of it. Then his dissapointment turned to glee as he got an idea.

"Hey pikachu! Think Misty'd be jealous of this?"

"Pika!" He said back nodding, and then climbed up to Ash's shoulder to ride.

Ash called all his other pokemon he was training back, except for the two that refused to, in order to walk by him. Ash went to walk back to Pallet in order to ask professor Oak to figure out what was in it, with his cyndaquil and grovyle walking next to him.

It took him until just before dinner would have been served before he got home. He walked up Professor Oak's driveway, and noticed a car parked outside. Curious on who it was, he went in without ringing the doorbell or knocking. Without needing to go far, he found Professor Oak in the living room, talking with Misty.

"Hey Ash, what 'cha got?" she said after noticing him.

"I found an egg! And its mine!" Ash said to them beaming. As he said it he remembered something, "hey guys, could you go home and tell my mom I'm on my way?" Grovyle and cyndaquil agreed and started to walk out and to his home.

"So you know what it is?" Misty asked him curiously from her seat.

"Ummm... no?" He said, starting to have second doubts about sharing it with Misty now. He started realizing she had something up her sleeve.

"So what are you planing on doing with it?" She asked as she got up from the seat she was on, standing up and slightly to one side.

"Well... hatch it of course." He had to bite his lip a little to keep from saying duh. He didn't know what she had up her sleeve but he knows already he's not going to like it.

"Tell you what Ash," She said as she walked over and picked it up out of his hands, "I'll take this egg, and I'll forget about that bike you still have to replace."

"Hey! I said I would replace it eventually!"

"Well guess what... that's now, or should I tell your mom about this? I've waited six years for that bike Ash..." She said as Oak stood up and already started to greet him.

"Hello again Ash. I have to admit though, Misty's right. You do owe her; don't make me speak with your mom. I highly doubt she would like the idea that you've not paid back what you owe for six years."

"But I..."

"But nothing Ash..." Oak said. Ash gave an inward sigh, which came out audibly, and nodded, turning to walk out and home.

"I really wish I didn't have to do that... But he does owe me for my bike." She said while holding it.

"Didn't you end up with his last egg, when he won it in a battle?"

"He cheated! He tickled my psyduck."

"I don't recall any sort of rule against it. I still say it was a low blow." Oak said and then gave a pause. "Do you want me to scan it and tell you what it'll hatch into?"

"No, that's ok. I'll think of this as a present from ash... and that's always a surprise." She walked outside carrying the egg in her arm.. She went to a store before heading to Delilah's home.

No longer is Pallet the ten houses and Oak's lab. Misty walked down the street noticing how more people have moved to houses nearby, though she suspected part of it was due to Oak's fame. Due to the government support of Oak's research though, the number of people living nearby wasn't allowed to grow beyond 200 residencies or 800 people, or else there'd be heavier fines, or Oak would have to leave to someplace away from everyone if the situation worsened.

Like the town she has become so familiar to, Misty had changed. She has grown to become a fine young woman of 18 years. Her training to look the part of a gym leader, though, has hardened her muscles and given her a slight degree of masculinity. She is not as afraid to show her feminine side anymore, like when she had traveled with Ash like in years past, but no one dared to get on her bad side. Her hair was still as orange as ever, but she had grown weary of the ponytail-like thing on her head and has become acclimated to wearing her hair down more often. She might wear hair-clips on the front sides of her hair to keep it out of her face, but disliked doing much more than what was needed for her hair now.

Misty picked up some flour and other supplies for Delilah so she could help with making dinner at the local store. As she picked up those supplies, she walked down the sales isle. One thing caught her attention was on a waist high shelf. There were accessories designed to hold eggs.

The only design left was the kind where the carrier had a strap over one shoulder and down to the belt of the other side and held the egg squarely at her side. She tested the material, and noticed that it was soft, yet firm. She wanted to keep the egg with her, but wanted to test to see how well it would hold heat, so Misty put her hand on the inside of the holder and within about a couple minutes of holding it as she looked at it, her hand felt quite warm. It would be perfect for the job.

She took the carrier to the register and paid for it. Since it was going under an out of stock sale, she only had to pay 500 as opposed to its original 2000. Although it had left her touch for a good half a minute, it was still almost as warm as when she last held it.

Satisfied with it for the time being, she put on the egg carrier and put it in place, and then proceeded to carry the groceries to Ash's home. As soon as she walked in, she smelled the food being cooked and sighed.

"Delilah! I told you I wanted to be here to help with that!" She called out as she set the groceries on the table.

"But as was hungry, and I figured I could get it started." Delilah responded back with a smile. Misty simply shook her head.

"Do you need help with any of it?"

"Well I expect you're hungry, so you can help eat it. Go on... I've already got it going. I can finish." She said as she shooed Misty out of the kitchen.

As the food finished cooking, Misty made some small chat with Delilah about how her life was going and she replied in the same. It wasn't even after five more minutes had passed, when Ash got done washing for dinner and rushed down the stairs loudly to sit at his spot at the table. At that point, Misty got up to help Delilah set up the table and put the food out.

Even though Misty was trying to help set out the food as well as she could, she noticed she had to hang the egg carrier, which was still holding the egg, on her seat so she didn't accidentally break it. Ash, as always, had a hard time holding back when it came to food, but somehow he managed to not touch the food until everyone sat down.

"Pikachu, come on up, I've got a special dish ready for you" Delilah called to him with a smile. Pikachu quite readily came up onto the table and seeing his plate with some of his favorite foods, covered in cheese, he hugged delilah quite happily and started digging in.

"I'm stuffed. Thanks Delilah." Misty said with a contented sigh as they finished their meal.

"Cant... eat... any...more..." Ash said groaning, already seeming to have gained a few pounds just from eating that food.

"I will never understand where you put it all..." Misty said with an exasperated expression.

"He is a growing boy." Delilah said.

"Yeah... in one direction... out." She muttered under her breath. Then in a louder voice, "well, I'm going to the guest room. I won't make it back to cerulean before dark, so I'll stay here for the night."

"I figured as much. Its nice of you to visit. You really need to stop being such a stranger..." Delilah said back, before turning to take care of Ash and his aftereffects of eating so much.

The next morning, Misty headed up the road back toward Cerulean to resume her duties as a gym leader, and Ash went back to his field where he had his pokemon do some mock battles with each other for training. He wasn't at it for very long when his bayleef came along to him, tackling him and smothering him with affection like her first days as a bayleef before showing him a note from Oak wrapped to her neck.

"Well its nice to see you too bayleef! What's this?" he said as he reached up to read the letter.

"Dear ash,

Please come over to my lab after you're done training. I have something I'd like to show you.

Oak"

"Well, sounds like fun. You guys ready?" he called out. He got several voices of approval, including a very vigorous one from bayleef, to which he chuckled and said, "Ok ok, I got the point... come on." And after he recalled the rest of his team aside from pikachu and bayleef, he headed to the lab. He found Oak to be researching, as always, pictures of some slabs that had some markings on them.

"You wanted to see me professor?" Ash asked him.

"Ah, yes. What do you make of this?" Oak says as he motioned for Ash to come closer and look.

Ash walked forward, gave it a few seconds look and said, "I don't know," with a shrug. Oak gave an inward sigh, looked down for a second and then looked at the screen.

"I've been working with a couple archaeologists on this project, they think they're onto something. They found a stone slab that appears to be a door with this writing on it, and it will not open."

"... so?" Ash said cluelessly.

"This writing doesn't match anything we've ever known in the entire course of history... and it doesn't seem to be related. The pattern is too different from anything that we have written. This could explain so many things about our past if we found out what it was saying. Maybe its a new pokemon or a new-" Oak started saying before Ash interrupted.

"A new Pokemon! I have to have it! Where is it? I'll get it!"

"Now hold on Ash! I can't tell you. We have to find out more about it before you just go after it."

"But why? I could just go there and-"

"No." he said sternly. "We don't know anything and for all we know it could just be a love poem."

"oh..."

"Besides, you'll probably prefer to train a bit more until you're ready to take it on... it could be tough..." Oak said somewhat seriously, hoping Ash's desire to win the first time will outdo his impatience.

"All right... I'm gonna go back out... don't you dare let them capture it without me!" He started to call out as he went down the stairs and out the door before Oak could muster the breath to reply. Oak smiled and shook his head.

"And after all these years I hoped that he'd calm down... Heh... who am I kidding! this is ash we're talking about, not to mention he's probably hit puberty..." He shakes his head more and then gets back to work, smiling as he does.


	2. The hatching

Disclaimer: Guess what! I redid this chapter! I'm somewhat happier about how I did it, and while it's not much, it's still enough to get the flamers off my back for not being quite complete because i was champing at the bit... After reviewing it I realize some things I would like to do, as well as change, so I shall mention them here.

My thanks to the readers still, who have been patient in waiting for an update, and I will continue to work on this as long as I can. _Wolfheart_, my actual sci-fi/fantasy book that I'm writing alongside of kaxanthedragon, is getting completed and also in full steam. So please keep this in mind as you wait or see errors. _Wolfheart_ is going to become our main source of income in these hard times and we're pushing the envelope to get it completed and attempt to publish.

If you like my work, leave a review please. If you don't, don't follow the example of one review and flame. I'm willing to attempt revisal, pending circumstances.

-----

The next day, after breakfast, Misty walked up to her room. As soon as she touched the knob on the door to the guest room, she felt a twinge run up her arm. She paused, and looked at her arm before somewhat cautiously entered the room and looked around.

Nothing seemed to be out of place, until she noticed the egg twitch. She watched it again to make sure it wasn't her imagination. She knew it had been moving some, but didn't think it would be ready to hatch this quickly. Closing the door behind her, she waited, and within a minute, it twitched again, almost knocking it and the holder over. With a smile, feeling her hair rise on end along her spine, she locked the door.

She walked toward it, and then pulled up a chair. The egg twitched again, catching her off guard at how quickly it was wobbling. A chip fell off the top, and she took the egg out of the container and into her lap. Thoughts of what Pokemon could be inside continued to fill her mind as a crack appeared and then lengthened, until finally a small hole appeared. She smiled as the wobbling stopped, air seeping into the egg more freely, and sniffed as the scent came out.

It didn't smell like what she thought it would. She had almost expected a more slimy or unfinished smell like when she helped make scrambled eggs. Instead it was oddly faint and had hints of a more earthly smell. She sighed as she thought. _"Its probably either a ground type or a boy..."_ she sighed, and then shrugged, _"I guess I could keep it anyway. Its not like I can't surprise someone when I have a mostly water team. Just because I'm a water gym leader..."_ she almost jumped when the egg cracked more and moved because of how deeply into her thoughts she was.

Ten more minutes passed of the egg trying to be broken, until finally, the egg had a sizable enough hole that she could peek into it. Carefully and slowly, she rolled the egg so the window light could show what was inside.

A pink blob was sleeping, eyes barely noticeable, along the bottom of the egg. A part of her melted as she watched it sleep, reminding her so much of togepi she felt another twinge of regret because of her loss of it.

Figuring it couldn't hurt to help it out, since it had such a hard time of opening the egg, she carefully pried at the shell. It broke apart in larger chunks, for which she was thankful. Within minutes, and without disturbing its sleep, she had broken the top part of the egg.

She looked at it torn. She wanted to turn it over and hold it, yet she wasn't sure if she'd wake it up, or if it'd even be able to be held. It didn't seem to have a discernible shape, and didn't want it spilling all over the place.

Her fears were put aside as it stirred and opened its eyes, blinking a lot as it got used to the light. It said nothing at first, just staring at her, then made a small sound, which combined with its sides being lifted upward like arms would, told Misty that it wanted to be held.

Carefully, she scooped her hands under the egg, afraid it could break at any point, then carefully poured the egg like a glass toward her arm, which was now tucked against her body. The ditto rolled out, landing face-up and looking at Misty again. To her surprise, it had as much form as she did, even without any bones. Setting the egg down, she cradled the ditto more as it snuggled up to her, and placing its ear to her chest, proceeded to fall asleep again to her heartbeat.

Carrying it that way, she walked back downstairs to the kitchen, where Delilah was finishing up the cleaning she scheduled to do and was about to get ready for the gardening.

"Oh good, You're just in time" She called out to Misty as she heard her come down the stairs. She heard no response and walked to the stairwell, when she heard a "shhhh..." and saw what she was carrying.

They cooed over it for a while, then Misty felt more than heard its stomach start to rumble, and went to the cabinet. Mentally thanking herself for thinking about it yesterday during her shopping trip, she pulled out the instant formula and combined it with warm water. By the time she saw it start to wake and it was about to make a noise, she had the bottle to its mouth and fed it.

It was a good hour after the feeding was over and the ditto was asleep again before she remembered her promise to Oak. She went upstairs, then carefully placed the ditto in the egg holder, and put it on her with little disturbance.

Setting herself at a walk, with constant pauses to check if it was still sleeping, she went to oak's home and rang the doorbell. The door seemed to open in the same instant.

"Misty, pleasure to see you again. Did something happen? It's only been a couple..." he started to say before his eyes wandered down the strap to the egg holder. "Oh my! Come inside, quickly." he said eagerly, already babbling about how rare a ditto birth was. She shushed him in the same way she shushed Delilah, reminding him that it was sleeping and wanted to keep it that way.

"Would you mind bringing in the shell it was in? It doesn't have to be now, but eventually would be nice."

"Yeah, sure. So what are you going to do?" she asked as he led her upstairs.

"nothing too major. Just wanting to scan it, add some information to my notes... and forward it all to nurse joy so she can make sure it's healthy." He said, giving her a look that indicated he wanted her approval.

"Yeah, sure." she said, nodding slightly, though a little nervous. They walked around the machinery until they came to a rounded platform sitting on the ground. He gestured toward it and started the machine up with a low hum.

Misty carefully set the container inside, seeing no particular reason to take it out of its bed. Oak turned around in his chair to help close the container properly. Like anytime he was excited, he talked.

"I've got it set to run here in a minute... This tells me how the Pokemon are doing, not only in health, but also in strength. I've actually started a research project on which Pokemon have more strength or mental power and needed to use a non-biased source... it can be so hard to tell sometimes." He stopped talking as the chamber lit up a light green as it scanned the contents.

The ditto squirmed some, still almost completely silent, as if it were in discomfort. It lasted for about half a minute before the light stopped, and Oak gave her the ok to open the container. Misty, having watched how he closed it up, undid the door and picked up the holder. The ditto calmed some, but was still showing nervousness, so Misty put a finger in to trace it. After a breif opening of its eyes it calmed and fell back asleep.

"Hmm... well this is interesting..." Oak muttered loudly.

"What is?" She asked as she readjusted the carrier over her shoulder once more, walking a couple steps to his side to read the computer panel.

"Well, it gave an error here," he said, pointing to the corner, "and then tried to tell me it was a subject it didn't recognize. That has never happened since I had first gotten it. It knows how to scan humans and Pokemon alike, since I had to show it the difference. I had to tell it what it scanned was a pokemon. Thankfully, its very healthy, according to the reply I got from Joy. No visits will be needed from her, but she did want me to warn you to keep paper towels or some sort of absorbent near it, or even in that carrier."

"Huh? Why?" she asked surprised.

"She told me that it probably excretes by sweating. She told me that was normal, but I still would like it If you could let me know if" he started to say before being interrupted.

"I'll let you know when I get a chance or find out anything new." she sighed.

"I was wondering..." he said as he looked over the information.

"That's always dangerous with you." she joked dryly.

"Do you know where Ash got that egg?"

"No. Why? Do you think I should ask?" she asked, her brows narrowing and becoming concerned.

"That's all right. I don't think it'll be necessary, I'll be able to see if my hunch is right soon enough."

She gave him a look that would have expressed her doubts, but he wasn't looking. She sighed internally and then walked out of the lab.

-----(later the next day, during dinner)

Oak had been invited to eat with the Ketchums again, but he was very agitated from work. Misty bottle fed her ditto while everyone ate and Oak vented his frustration.

"They just up and quit! Those archaeologists left the cave, saying they were attacked by pokemon, despite the gear I invested in to help deter them from the site. They resigned and gave me their full reports of what they found so far, but..." he said before running out of steam, sighing heavily and eating some of Delilah's cooking.

"So what did they find?" Delilah asked, passing the potatoes to Ash for his third helping.

"Not much. Its mostly what we've covered already. The door is indestructible. Some of their dynamite was missing yesterday, and it turns out some ruffian tried to use it to get through, but the door wasn't even scratched!"

"I don't remember anything about a door." Ash said after making a large swallow and proceeding to inhale more food.

"That's because you're too busy stuffing your face. One of these days your mom will have to cook you up as a stuffed blaziken." Misty joked as Ash gave her a look of doubt breifly before continuing to eat.

"We still can't make any sort of connection to the language used on the door, it reminds some of the other professors of the unown but... its nowhere near as legible." he said, frustration gone and his thoughtfulness returning.

"So is there a pokemon there or what?" Ash asked, reaching for the dumplings.

"We don't know. Even if there is a conncetion to the unown, that still leaves us no better off... besides, like I told Ash, it could just be a love poem for all we know."

"How sweet." Delilah said fantasizing about that.

"How many people take that long to carve out a love poem professor?" Misty said sarcastically.

"I know. Which is why we think it could be something relavent."

"If there's a pokemon there I wanna go see it!" ash said, sitting back in his chair heavily.

"I'll come along too." misty said mildly, though in the back of her mind she was wondering what she would do with the ditto.

"Well... I guess if you could help protect the guide, he could show you. Thankfully I haven't lost him yet. How about in a few days? I'm planning on going there myself, but if you can" he started to say before getting interrupted by ash

"I'll do it. Anything to get me closer to another Pokemon..."

"I guess I'll go too. Someone needs to keep an eye on him."

-----

The next day Ash and Misty both went out to do their daily training. While Ash went down the road toward Veridian, Misty went into the expansive land behind Oak's research grounds. She found a tree, quickly scanning it for bug pokemon before bringing out her pokemon that could stand on land. After doing some of the more traditional warmups she started having them work on combos they could try out.

She continued like this for about two hours, her pokemon quite tired after testing many of their skills to their limit. With a barely stifled yawn, she put the ditto down next to the tree, then sat up against it before nodding off into a light nap.

-----

About a hundred yards away, a man waited behind a dense cluster of bushes. He had been wandering for quite some time, searching for a job. As much as he hated doing it, he stole from those he felt he had to. Life had treated him unfairly, and he planned on getting what he deserved somehow. He continued to watch as this girl practiced. For what, he didn't know, but it was plain she had money to spare if she could afford to be out here instead of at a job. He waited for a chance to find out what she had on her, when as soon as he began to doze off, she went to the tree and sat down.

He crept forward after waiting half an hour, just to make sure whether she was just resting or actually sleeping. He got within ten feet before he started to have doubts, but didn't slow. His conscience started nagging at him as he looked at her and the ditto. Then a thought came to his mind, quickly drowning out the small voice arguing against it.

He quietly went to her backpack, and unzipped it. Neither of them stirred, so he sifted through it. Within seconds he found what he was looking for, her moneybag. He looked back down at the girl again, and a small grin came to his face as lewd thoughts came to mind. Figuring he could keep her quiet afterward, he reached down toward her body, unaware that a pair of eyes were watching.

He got within inches of her when suddenly his hand was covered in pink goop. Completely surprised he gave a start and shook his arm fanatically while using the other hand to push it off, letting go of the money pouch as he did so.

It fell onto the ground with a small squish, then glared at him hatefully. He froze temporarily, unsure of if he should get going or not. When he heard the girl moan slightly, he decided against staying, then turned back to look at the ditto, only to find a pair of legs and feet. He looked upward, to find a boy where the ditto was before. Figuring her boyfriend was here, he cursed and ran as fast as he could away.

-----

Misty stirred as she woke from a mild dream and the feeling of wind rustling against her skin. She looked automatically toward the egg carrier on her left and noticed that it was empty. Waking up quickly, she looked around and noticed her backpack was opened. On her right was her moneybag with a stranger bending over to pick it up slowly.

She stood up quickly, reaching into her bag for a Pokemon, any Pokemon that she could bring out right away. Yelling, she threw the pokeball at the stranger's feet, "Staryu, tackle!"

The boy looked toward her, saw the ball headed toward him, and he jumped backward, dropping the bag. As staryu appeared he gave a small jump, along with a face of slight confusion. His confusion was dropped as staryu threw itself with a spin at him.

Thinking quickly, he tossed himself at the ground just in time to avoid getting hit. The staryu seemed to twist in midair and land on two of its legs about ten feet away. He tried to pick himself up as he asked loudly in both surprise and anger, "What the hell is going on!?"

"What did you do with my ditto!" she half asked, half demanded in a somewhat controlled hysteric voice.

Using this as an opportunity to stand, he did so, asking, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me! Staryu, pin him down!" she yelled.

Anticipating another move from behind him, he turned around and jumped to the side. The staryu still managed to hit his ankle, sending him onto his face into the ground while he managed to avoid banging his ankle into the ground. The pain that shot up his leg caused him to grimace, and he hoped nothing broke. He tried to sit up and found her standing in front of him, angry and ready to punch him silly.

"One last chance... What did you do with ditto?" she asked venomously.

"I'm telling you I don't know! I don't even know what that is!" he said looking up at her with anger in turn. She clenched her muscles, then took a breath before saying, "the pink Pokemon in that carrier over there... What did you do with it? Tell me now." she threatened.

"Wait... a carrier?" he said, eyes rapidly moving downward and slightly to the sides as he closed his eyes and memories started to come to him.

"Are you blind or just stupid?!" She asked exasperated. She pointed to the carrier, lying on its side.

"... I remember that..." he said, eyes narrowing.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not sure why she had an odd feeling of dread starting to grow in her chest.

"I saw you... and then... there was another woman... she called you Misty?"

"How did you know that?" she asked, taking a step back.

"am... Could I be your ditto?" he asked genuinely lost.

"No way..." she said shaking her head and looking at the carrier and back again. "If you were then what did I call you the first night I had you?" she asked a little shaken at the thought.

He thought for a minute, then said, "You didn... wait... mini-dit?" he looked at her with a curiously, as if to reconfirm what he said.

She took a step back in shock, then asked, "Who are you?"

Suddenly his sense of humor came back, "Where'd you come up with a name like that?" he chuckled. "God... that was embarrassing..."

"You can't be... you can't..." she muttered.

He looked at her, seeing that she was still in denial. "Wasn't there someone you saw before?" memories still started to come back in spurts, "An older guy? Had something that made my insides squirm?"

"Oak?" she asked, then thought about it. "yeah... come with me. He'll sort this out." She quickly gathered her belongings and put them away, returned staryu, and shouldered her backpack again.

The youth attempted to stand, wincing slightly at the ankle but stood, then waited for her to lead the way back. It took her a minute before she wordlessly walked toward oak's lab.

He tried to follow her as well as he could, certain that the bruise was only getting worse by walking on it, but he kept his mouth shut, looking around as he forced himself to walk.

They arrived within about half an hour. Misty staying decidedly mute about his growing limp. She stood next to the door and waited for him to limp up to the door and ring the doorbell. He pushed the button, then leaned on the door-frame as he lifted the injured foot.

He didn't have long to wait as the door was opened within seconds. "I thought I saw you come up Misty." he said gesturing inside until he noticed the boy. "Hello there. Who are you?"

He thought quickly, an odd sense of paranoia filling him about giving his birth name, and then, remembering a game he used to play, gave Oak the name of his characters. "Lycian."

"Well come in, come in!" he said welcoming them in again. Misty stepped in, with Lycian following suit. Oak brought them into the living room and sat down on the couch, inviting them to do likewise.

"So what can I do for you?" He asked.

Misty relayed as much of what happened while she was out in the field, elaborating more as she got to the part involving Lycian. He for the most part, stayed silent, correcting her by filling in the gap of when she fell asleep, much to her annoyance.

Oak hummed to himself before asking, "so how do you want me to help?"

Lycian was the first to reply. "We need you to confirm if my guess is accurate."

Oak thought for a brief moment before saying, "you know, I think I can... come on." he got up and led them upstairs talking as he did, "I don't think I've heard of a Pokemon being able to become human before, this would be remarkable for studies..." They reached the upstairs and Lycian looked around curious.

"I don't think I recognize any of this... is that a computer?" he asked, pointing out the desk and large screen on the left.

"Yes it is, I'm a Pokemon professor. I'm trying to find out some of the secrets of Pokemon." He said with mild enthusiasm.

"So would that make you a scientist or a zoologist?" he asked, stepping toward the console. He didn't give Oak a chance to answer as he saw the desktop on the screen. "I don't recognize this operating system... What's it called?"

"I... I don't remember, its been a while since I got it."

"Now's not the time for this." Misty said, her voice threatening again. "if you took my ditto I want to find out what you did with it!"

Annoyed, Lycian turned around and said, "And I told you while fending off that overgrown starfish of yours that I had nothing to do with it and this is my best guess!"

Oak, sensing a fight coming up again, intervened. "Hey now, simmer down. Lets just get this underway all right? We'll figure this out. Now you," pulling Lycian's arm somewhat. "I need you to stand here, or sit, but stay on this platform all right?"

He nodded, sitting down legs crossed and leaning forward on his elbows, keeping an eye on Misty as he did so. Misty sat down in one of the spare chairs and faced him, setting her backpack on the ground next to her. Oak then started up the scanning machine and green lights went along the walls of the chamber.

Lycian winced, and Oak looked at him concerned, "Are you ok?"

"Just some mild internal discomfort. I'm fine." he said through another wince. "How does this work?"

"Well, it tries to use different wavelengths to check on a pokemon's makeup, and estimates their power."

"almost," he said, before another grimace came, stronger than the first, "like an x-ray?"

"Not quite. This isn't harmful at all. X-ray's have been almost banned from … are you sure you're all right?" Oak replied as a message appeared on the screen behind him. _Insufficient data, increasing power._

"Yes... if this doesn't affect you, then it only will serve to prove what I guessed." he said, taking a deep breath as the lights turned off. "I will endure..." Oak nodded his head in understanding, then looked on surprised as the lights started up again, this time blue. He swiveled around to face the screen just as Lycian grimaced more and doubled over.

Oak said surprised, "I can't get it to stop, I missed the chance to override it. Odd, it only uses that mode on rock ty-" he didn't show any concern until he had turned around and saw Lycian, at first in pain, then watched as his posture relaxed as he fainted. Before he had even reached to open the container Lycian's body started to shimmer slightly, then turn more pink and finally shrink in size as he did so. Within seconds, lying face down, was Misty's ditto.

Misty had been watching in stunned silence. At first, she was fine with him being in a little discomfort. It served him right for messing with her belongings. But as the green light had faded, she grew slightly guilty, especially after hearing what he said about proving his innocence. She looked on in surprise as the blue lights had started, and felt guilt sink into her chest as she saw the sudden pain he was enduring to prove it. Quickly her dread was combined with guilt as she saw him turn into the ditto she once knew, though a little bigger.

Before Oak had a chance to open the doors and reach in, she had already gotten up and reached in to pick it up. He saw this and allowed it, sitting back into his chair.

As she turned it over in her arms, she noticed a purple blotch on the bottom right of the ditto's body, and felt twinges of regret. She sighed, muttered something to herself, not sure if she should complain about not being able to keep it, and yet, almost glad.

"Misty." Oak said, not sounding angry or mad, but with a note of seriousness. "You do realize he just showed you what he said was true right?"

"I know... But, what should I do? I can't keep him if its human!" she explained, the feeling of the unfairness of life coming back to her.

"Well... I got some interesting readings on that. According to the computer, its a Pokemon all right, but a smarter than average one. For all we know, this could be a defense against being caught while they're young." he said, pointing out the charts. "There's not a whole lot of strength, but that's not surprising in a newly hatched Pokemon, but the intelligence certainly matches that of a human's."

"all right... I think I need to head home and rest. My head is starting to hurt..." She said, pulling out the carrier and putting the ditto inside. It felt odd to her to carry it again, noting how it did seem a little heavier.

The entire walk home, she wrestled with what it was she was going to do. She wasn't sure that she wanted to keep it like a Pokemon unless it really was just acting like a human, but she didn't want to feel gypped out of yet another one of Ash's deals...


	3. A new face, yet old

Update news: All right, well, I wanted to thank the 120ish who saw my story within the first two days of the updates. I know it hasn't been a while, but I really appreciate all the peeks at my story. I noticed however, only 31 people read up until the second chapter. So what I will be working on now is filling in the first chapter's blank spots, which I suspect are the reason for such a lack of continuation (not that I blame them. the first chapter is the first impression, and it looks like I'll be jumping around) so I'm going to work on that while working on moving onward. please bear with me as I do so, and remember, I really want feedback. (and no, reviews saying update don't count. You can say it anyway, but that doesn't tell me why you want more.)

The next day Ash and Misty both went out to do their daily training. While Ash went down the road toward Veridian, Misty went into the expansive land behind Oak's research grounds. She found a tree, quickly scanning it for bug pokemon before bringing out her pokemon that could stand on land. After doing some of the more traditional warmups she started having them work on combos they could try out.

She continued like this for about two hours, her pokemon quite tired after testing many of their skills to their limit. With a barely stifled yawn, she put the ditto down next to the tree, then sat up against it before nodding off into a light nap.

-----

About a hundred yards away, a man waited behind a dense cluster of bushes. He had been wandering for quite some time, searching for a job. As much as he hated doing it, he stole from those he felt he had to. Life had treated him unfairly, and he planned on getting what he deserved somehow. He continued to watch as this girl practiced. For what, he didn't know, but it was plain she had money to spare if she could afford to be out here instead of at a job. He waited for a chance to find out what she had on her, when as soon as he began to doze off, she went to the tree and sat down.

He crept forward after waiting half an hour, just to make sure whether she was just resting or actually sleeping. He got within ten feet before he started to have doubts, but didn't slow. His conscience started nagging at him as he looked at her and the ditto. Then a thought came to his mind, quickly drowning out the small voice arguing against it.

He quietly went to her backpack, and unzipped it. Neither of them stirred, so he sifted through it. Within seconds he found what he was looking for, her moneybag. He looked back down at the girl again, and a small grin came to his face as lewd thoughts came to mind. Figuring he could keep her quiet afterward, he reached down toward her body, unaware that a pair of eyes were watching.

He got within inches of her when suddenly his hand was covered in pink goop. Completely surprised he gave a start and shook his arm fanatically while using the other hand to push it off, letting go of the money pouch as he did so.

It fell onto the ground with a small squish, then glared at him hatefully. He froze temporarily, unsure of if he should get going or not. When he heard the girl moan slightly, he decided against staying, then turned back to look at the ditto, only to find a pair of legs and feet. He looked upward, to find a boy where the ditto was before. Figuring her boyfriend was here, he cursed and ran as fast as he could away.

-----

Misty stirred as she woke from a mild dream and the feeling of wind rustling against her skin. She looked automatically toward the egg carrier on her left and noticed that it was empty. Waking up quickly, she looked around and noticed her backpack was opened. On her right was her moneybag with a stranger bending over to pick it up slowly.

She stood up quickly, reaching into her bag for a Pokemon, any Pokemon that she could bring out right away. Yelling, she threw the pokeball at the stranger's feet, "Staryu, tackle!"

The boy looked toward her, saw the ball headed toward him, and he jumped backward, dropping the bag. As staryu appeared he gave a small jump, along with a face of slight confusion. His confusion was dropped as staryu threw itself with a spin at him.

Thinking quickly, he tossed himself at the ground just in time to avoid getting hit. The staryu seemed to twist in midair and land on two of its legs about ten feet away. He tried to pick himself up as he asked loudly in both surprise and anger, "What the hell is going on!?"

"What did you do with my ditto!" she half asked, half demanded in a somewhat controlled hysteric voice.

Using this as an opportunity to stand, he did so, asking, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me! Staryu, pin him down!" she yelled.

Anticipating another move from behind him, he turned around and jumped to the side. The staryu still managed to hit his ankle, sending him onto his face into the ground while he managed to avoid banging his ankle into the ground. The pain that shot up his leg caused him to grimace, and he hoped nothing broke. He tried to sit up and found her standing in front of him, angry and ready to punch him silly.

"One last chance... What did you do with ditto?" she asked venomously.

"I'm telling you I don't know! I don't even know what that is!" he said looking up at her with anger in turn. She clenched her muscles, then took a breath before saying, "the pink Pokemon in that carrier over there... What did you do with it? Tell me now." she threatened.

"Wait... a carrier?" he said, eyes rapidly moving downward and slightly to the sides as he closed his eyes and memories started to come to him.

"Are you blind or just stupid?!" She asked exasperated. She pointed to the carrier, lying on its side.

"... I remember that..." he said, eyes narrowing.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not sure why she had an odd feeling of dread starting to grow in her chest.

"I saw you... and then... there was another woman... she called you Misty?"

"How did you know that?" she asked, taking a step back.

"am... Could I be your ditto?" he asked genuinely lost.

"No way..." she said shaking her head and looking at the carrier and back again. "If you were then what did I call you the first night I had you?" she asked a little shaken at the thought.

He thought for a minute, then said, "You didn... wait... mini-dit?" he looked at her with a curiously, as if to reconfirm what he said.

She took a step back in shock, then asked, "Who are you?"

Suddenly his sense of humor came back, "Where'd you come up with a name like that?" he chuckled. "God... that was embarassing..."

"You can't be... you can't..." she muttered.

He looked at her, seeing that she was still in denial. "Wasn't there someone you saw before?" memories still started to come back in spurts, "An older guy? Had something that made my insides squirm?"

"Oak?" she asked, then thought about it. "yeah... come with me. He'll sort this out." She quickly gathered her belongings and put them away, returned staryu, and shouldered her backpack again.

The youth attempted to stand, wincing slightly at the ankle but stood, then waited for her to lead the way back. It took her a minute before she wordlessly walked toward oak's lab.

He tried to follow her as well as he could, certain that the bruise was only getting worse by walking on it, but he kept his mouth shut, looking around as he forced himself to walk.

They arrived within about half an hour. Misty staying decidedly mute about his growing limp. She stood next to the door and waited for him to limp up to the door and ring the doorbell. He pushed the button, then leaned on the door-frame as he lifted the injured foot.

He didn't have long to wait as the door was opened within seconds. "I thought I saw you come up Misty." he said gesturing inside until he noticed the boy. "Hello there. Who are you?"

He thought quickly, an odd sense of paranoia filling him about giving his birth name, and then, remembering a game he used to play, gave Oak the name of his characters. "Lycian."

"Well come in, come in!" he said welcoming them in again. Misty stepped in, with Lycian following suit. Oak brought them into the living room and sat down on the couch, inviting them to do likewise.

"So what can I do for you?" He asked.

Misty relayed as much of what happened while she was out in the field, elaborating more as she got to the part involving Lycian. He for the most part, stayed silent, correcting her by filling in the gap of when she fell asleep, much to her annoyance.

Oak hummed to himself before asking, "so how do you want me to help?"

Lycian was the first to reply. "We need you to confirm if my guess is accurate."

Oak thought for a brief moment before saying, "you know, I think I can... come on." he got up and led them upstairs talking as he did, "I don't think I've heard of a Pokemon being able to become human before, this would be remarkable for studies..." They reached the upstairs and Lycian looked around curious.

"I don't think I recognize any of this... is that a computer?" he asked, pointing out the desk and large screen on the left.

"Yes it is, I'm a Pokemon professor. I'm trying to find out some of the secrets of Pokemon." He said with mild enthusiasm.

"So would that make you a scientist or a zoologist?" he asked, stepping toward the console. He didn't give Oak a chance to answer as he saw the desktop on the screen. "I don't recognize this operating system... What's it called?"

"I... I don't remember, its been a while since I got it."

"Now's not the time for this." Misty said, her voice threatening again. "if you took my ditto I want to find out what you did with it!"

Annoyed, Lycian turned around and said, "And I told you while fending off that overgrown starfish of yours that I had nothing to do with it and this is my best guess!"

Oak, sensing a fight coming up again, intervened. "Hey now, simmer down. Lets just get this underway all right? We'll figure this out. Now you," pulling Lycian's arm somewhat. "I need you to stand here, or sit, but stay on this platform all right?"

He nodded, sitting down legs crossed and leaning forward on his elbows, keeping an eye on Misty as he did so. Misty sat down in one of the spare chairs and faced him, setting her backpack on the ground next to her. Oak then started up the scanning machine and green lights went along the walls of the chamber.

Lycian winced, and Oak looked at him concerned, "Are you ok?"

"Just some mild internal discomfort. I'm fine." he said through another wince. "How does this work?"

"Well, it tries to use different wavelengths to check on a pokemon's makeup, and estimates their power."

"almost," he said, before another grimace came, stronger than the first, "like an x-ray?"

"Not quite. This isn't harmful at all. X-ray's have been almost banned from … are you sure you're all right?" Oak replied as a message appeared on the screen behind him. _Insufficient data, increasing power._

"Yes... if this doesn't affect you, then it only will serve to prove what I guessed." he said, taking a deep breath as the lights turned off. "I will endure..." Oak nodded his head in understanding, then looked on surprised as the lights started up again, this time blue. He swiveled around to face the screen just as Lycian grimaced more and doubled over.

Oak said surprised, "I can't get it to stop, I missed the chance to override it. Odd, it only uses that mode on rock ty-" he didn't show any concern until he had turned around and saw Lycian, at first in pain, then watched as his posture relaxed as he fainted. Before he had even reached to open the container Lycian's body started to shimmer slightly, then turn more pink and finally shrink in size as he did so. Within seconds, lying face down, was Misty's ditto.

Misty had been watching in stunned silence. At first, she was fine with him being in a little discomfort. It served him right for messing with her belongings. But as the green light had faded, she grew slightly guilty, especially after hearing what he said about proving his innocence. She looked on in surprise as the blue lights had started, and felt guilt sink into her chest as she saw the sudden pain he was enduring to prove it. Quickly her dread was combined with guilt as she saw him turn into the ditto she once knew, though a little bigger.

Before Oak had a chance to open the doors and reach in, she had already gotten up and reached in to pick it up. He saw this and allowed it, sitting back into his chair.

As she turned it over in her arms, she noticed a purple blotch on the bottom right of the ditto's body, and felt twinges of regret. She sighed, muttered something to herself, not sure if she should complain about not being able to keep it, and yet, almost glad.

"Misty." Oak said, not sounding angry or mad, but with a note of seriousness. "You do realize he just showed you what he said was true right?"

"I know... But, what should I do? I can't keep him if its human!" she explained, the feeling of the unfairness of life coming back to her.

"Well... I got some interesting readings on that. According to the computer, its a Pokemon all right, but a smarter than average one. For all we know, this could be a defense against being caught while they're young." he said, pointing out the charts. "There's not a whole lot of strength, but that's not surprising in a newly hatched Pokemon, but the intelligence certainly matches that of a human's."

"all right... I think I need to head home and rest. My head is starting to hurt..." She said, pulling out the carrier and putting the ditto inside. It felt odd to her to carry it again, noting how it did seem a little heavier.

The entire walk home, she wrestled with what it was she was going to do. She wasn't sure that she wanted to keep it like a Pokemon unless it really was just acting like a human, but she didn't want to feel gypped out of yet another one of Ash's deals...


	4. Learning Steps part 1

(First, I want to apologize for the delay. So many different things had been going on that its hard to even see a way to bring everyone up to speed on what happened! Long story short, I left my job to move 1700 miles to my girlfriend, only we're no longer bf/gf, I have no job, no home to go back to (tho I am still living with her) and am doing the best I can with what I have, including attempting to get Wolfheart completed and published. Thanks for waiting, hopefully i've made your wait worth it!)

Delila pulled out yet another weed in her garden as she wondered how her Ash was doing. Giving a small sigh as she realized she was worrying over nothing yet again, she looked up, using her sleeve to dab at the sweat that she felt but none could see. She saw Misty walking down the road slowly, head down and fidgeting. She frowned some, wondering what happened, but once again, reminded herself she shouldn't worry until there's need to.

It took another ten minutes for Misty to walk into talking range, and by then, Delilah had weeded the garden and started watering the plants.

"Welcome back Misty... is there anything wrong?" she asked after seeing her troubled face.

"Huh? Oh, no, not really..." Misty replied, almost without thought, but her tone betrayed herself to Delilah.

"Come on... you can tell me..." she coaxed, turning off the water and walking over. Instinctively she looked down at the egg carrier, saw the ditto, and then saw the bruise, "Oh my goodness, what happened?" She reached forward to inspect or even pick it up when misty turned the carrier away from her hands, much to Delilah's surprise.

"He'll be fine."

"He?" She asked, curious about how she knew.

Misty sighed before explaining what happened earlier. Delilah listened on, smiling some, but taking in all of what was shared, said and unsaid.

"Mist, I've known you for some time... don't worry about it. You never know, even if he does want to be on his own, I'm sure he'd help you out."

"I'm going to my room, I'll see you at dinner..." she said shaking her head, mostly from her own uncertainty.

She continued inside, walking without thinking about what she was doing into her room, and set the carrier down onto the bed. She sighed heavily as she continued to ponder what she should do. She jumped slightly when the ditto squirmed some, but then watched it go back into a peaceful sleep.

Misty relaxed after another seconds thought and decided if she was going to do anything about it, she would have already, or she'll deal with it when it comes. Weariness overcame her, despite her sleep from before and she laid down on the bed, out cold before ten minutes had passed.

It was another hour before the ditto woke. Its eyes opened slowly, and then there was a little wriggling as it came to its senses. It looked up and thought as it started to realize it was stuck inside the carrier.

_How did I get out last time? … I had to throw myself out but... oh well, its worth a try._

Compressing itself against the bottom of the carrier it attempted to get out of the carrier, but only managed to make the entire thing fall against the side as it hit the edge and toppled the carrier over. It looked at the floor down below and braced itself for landing, because the carrier was on the edge of the bed, and it picked the wrong side to knock over.

Thankfully it wasn't a hard fall, and while the cushioning of the material absorbed some of the impact, it grimaced as the bruised area threw pain through its body. It looked around and stared.

_Why is everything so huge? … why am I not human anymore? Ok, how do I turn back into myself?_

It thought and then tried to relive that moment when he saw Misty being attacked. At first it was him allowing himself to get angry at someone being taken off guard, then he remembered taking a step forward toward the man. He frowned, then realized that it wasn't the stepping forward that mattered, it was picturing what he was. With renewed determination, he focused on stepping out of the carrier as if he were human.

He felt the same shivering tingle that went all over his body, a shift in his vision, and then was human once more. He stretched his arms and body as best he could, still keeping as much of his weight off his foot as possible. Twisting back to the side to see where Misty was, he saw her out cold on the bed and thought.

H_m. Should I wake her? ... No, she's had plenty on her mind and its not a good idea to press my luck._

With that being decided, he opened the door quietly and closed it behind him, taking his time in observing his surroundings. Though upon noticing the stairwell to his left, he gingerly went down. He found himself, as soon as he reached the bottom, facing a smiling Delilah.

"Hello there. I didn't see you come in."

"Excuse me." he said, backing off slightly from surprise before catching himself and making an impromptu bow.

"Well, that's ok..." she said, her smile wavering as she watched him bend back upward from his introduction. "Who are you? Another of Ash's friends I take it?"

He wasn't sure how to phrase his question of who Ash was or who she was, but thinking quickly he surmised that she must have some kind of relation to Ash. "Ah, so you must be Ash's mother?" It came out more questioning and uncertain than he thought, but given her eagerness to talk about him, he hoped he could avoid the question.

"Yes." She said smiling, almost on the borderline of chuckling. "So how is he doing?"

_These people and their cheeriness is creeping me out... _"He's doing well." _Or at least, I hope he's doing well..._

"Well good, I know he'll get to be a great trainer one day. With how often he says he'll be a master, I'd hope-" She started to say before the front door opened and he came in.

"Mom! I'm home!" he didn't even bother to look around, just took off his shoes and started to dump his jacket and backpack as pikachu walked in and climbed up to get on his shoulder. "Is Misty home?"

"She's asleep. Has been for a little bit as far as I can tell." Lycian said, causing Ash to straighten up and look at him directly, pikachu looking at him as well but head cocked slightly to the side. "Interesting pet you have..."

"Pikachu is not a pet! He's my best friend!"

"Hm... never seen one before."

"Never seen a pikachu before? They're easy to see in this area..." Delilah said, turning to Lycian as well, "Would either of you care for a drink?"

"Please." Lycian said with a nod. Ash voiced his approval and they headed to the kitchen area.

"So where are you from that you haven't seen a pikachu?" Delilah asked.

"Illinois." he said without thinking. He felt a sense of awkwardness as he said it, only getting blank stares from them both. "Its in the United States..." he said slowly.

"Funny, I've never heard of them..." Ash said, "do they have any gyms over there?"

"Well, some cities have them, some don't."

"Well, I'm gonna have to have you take me there so I can beat their leader and get their badges!"

"You... beating the leader... I don't know anything about badges but for you to beat the leaders of a town gym, you'd have to be in a heck of a lot better shape..."

"Hey, I've nearly won some tournaments so don't think that I-"

"Now boys, lets calm down... Mimey, would you mind finishing watering the garden?" she said to the shorter creature next to her.

Lycian looked over to her and then over the counter where she was preparing some lemonade and saw the Mr Mime that spoke its name and walked on out the back door to do the task cheerfully.

"What was that?" he asked, hoping they wouldn't think badly of him for the face that held more confusion than curiosity.

"Mimey? He's my little helper around the house."

Lycian slowly nodded and looked between them both, not attempting another try at getting a conversation going. Thankfully, the lemonade was done and Delilah brought it to the counter within reach of the two boys. He went to step forward and take his offered glass, when he forgot his ankle, put too much weight on it, and started to fall, catching himself and wincing as he did.

Ash and Delilah were concerned as he brought himself back up.

"Are you ok?" Delilah asked.

"Yeah... I'll be fine." He said, grunting one last time and bringing his breathing back to normalcy, "Misty and her overgrown starfish tackled me in the ankle earlier and I haven't recovered from it yet.

"You mean her staryu?" Ash asked him to clarify.

"Yeah," he said back, hoping that's what it was, "I get the feeling we have different names for some things..."

"huh... So what do you want to be?"

"I haven't decided yet. I was about to graduate here in another half a year, but..." he trailed off, not sure how to continue.

"Then what were you in school for? Surely you didn't keep going and didn't know what you wanted..." Delilah asked quietly.

"Well, when I'm required to go for twelve years or until I reach 16, and most jobs ask for a high school diploma... Its better when I finish it up..."

"You have to go to school till you're 16!? I got out at 10!" Ash said loudly, with pikachu saying a few tidbits of its name in agreement.

"Well, what can I say? Things are a little... different where I'm from." He shrugged.

He was spared any further talk by Misty coming down the stairs, rubbing at her eyelids. She habitually walked to the kitchen before noticing, "Oh... Ash, you're home." she then looked to Lycian, who looked back at her with slight concern

"Are you rested?" he asked

"Yeah... I'm fine..."

"What's wrong mist?" Ash asked.

When she stayed silent, Lycian filled in the gap, "She was attacked earlier during her training. I helped fend her attacker off, but she still got a bit of a shock..."

"You didn't say anything about that!" Ash said surprised at what she said.

"I'll bet he didn't say anything about being a pokemon either." she said quietly.

"What?" Ash and Delilah both said doubtingly, pikachu making its exclamation, looking between Lycian and Misty while pikachu sniffed at him.

"As far as this guy called Oak says anyway. Not really sure what that entails, but he seems to be a reputable man." Lycian said slowly.

"Not sure that what!?" Ash said looking him over

"I haven't even heard of the term pokemon before today, or at least in my current state.

"Never even heard of pokemon!?"

Lycian sighed at their surprise. It was going to be a long talk, at least, it would have been, if it weren't for Oak walking in the door.

"Good afternoon Deli- oh! Didn't realize everyone was here!" He said, walking toward them.

"Oh Oak! What brings you around in the middle of your workday?"

"My researchers completely quit on me! They said my procedures were too slow, tried to use explosives to open the door! Then they complained about how pokemon were attacking them and won't go near the place." He had walked over to the counter to Delilah, Ash and Lycian stepping back politely.

"Oh my... that certainly isn't very good."

"Wasn't that the door that had some writing you couldn't translate?" Lycian asked

"Indeed it was... how did you- oh wait, you were listening of course..."

"Only as much as you could expect an infant to." he replied. "So what's the problem with the door, can't you get someone else in to investigate it?"

"No, at least not yet. I have enough curiosity I planned on going there myself, but the problem is the pokemon. According to their reports, they'll attack anyone who goes in."

"I'll go professor!" Ash said with excitement. "If there's a rare pokemon behind it, I wanna see it!"

"I'll go too." Misty and Lycian said at the same time.

"You know, that might not be a bad idea..." he said, turning to Lycian, "What are some of your skills?"

"Well, I've nearly gotten my high school diploma, that's about twelve years of schooling, subjects range from math including algebra and basic trigonometry, use of computers, science, English, and tidbits of some other things."

"How much do you know about procedures?"

"I know plenty, assuming that we have a similarity in that regard. Take it slow, take your time, and observe and record everything."

"Then you'll do excellently. I nearly forgot to mention that much of my data has been removed. It was stored on their systems and when they took their computers with them..."

"I understand."

"What will we do professor?" Misty asked.

"Fend off any pokemon that might try to interfere." he said back with some cheer.

"When will we get to leave?" Ash asked

"Tomorrow if you like. The helicopter is prepared since I said I was going to go myelf."

"Sweet!" Ash said, pikachu getting excited with him and started to spark electricity from its cheeks.

Lycian stepped back a little ways and turned to Oak. "Is that normal for it to be sparking electricity?"

"More or less, its excited right now, so its letting out a bit of its energy... why?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to come back with you and get a crash course on Pokemon."

"Well... I don't see why not." He said with a shrug but eying Lycian with a curious expression. "Follow me."

Lycian went to follow Oak out the door toward his laboratory, getting the starting lecture most get when they receive their pokemon license.

"Pokemon are found all over the world. Some keep them for pets, others for tournaments and contests. I am among those that research them. We're called pokemon professors." He said as he opened the door to his lab.

"We try to figure out the unique connections that pokemon have with nature and their trainers. There's still many mysteries," He continued, walking up the stairs to his main study room, "and its possible our work will never be complete, but we will try."

"What do you mean by the connections they have with nature and their trainers?"

"They have the odd ability to sense when anything in nature is out of balance, and those that aren't strong enough to affect it run, or go to the site to be support in any way they can."

"Ah... So some of them are used for fighting?" Lycian asked skeptically.

"Not in wars or anything like that anymore, but in competitions, heavily monitored to make sure no one is abusing their pokemon. That's another thing that we're attempting to figure out." He pulled up some videos of attacks being used by different pokemon.

"What in the world... how are any of these things even possible..." Lycian said, leaning on the counter and looking at the screen with squinted eyes.

"That is what we're trying to see."

"Logically that goes against so many laws of nature that shouldn't be possible... Here, that one," he said, pointing out the squirtle using hydro pump. "In order for that to work, the water has to come from somewhere. If it came from himself, he'd be dehydrated within seconds, if that. If it came from the area around him, that would be reflected in the dehydration of the area and things around it... If its a conversion of energy, that goes against Einstein's law of conservation of energy."

"I have no idea what that last one is..." Oak said back, still analyzing his words.

"Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. In order to convert your physical energy into a physical object, you'd have to put out enough energy to be divided by the speed of light squared. Just to create one drop of water would take so much energy it could power a metropolis for a month..."

"Then how do you explain this?"

"I can't... it defies the natural laws i've learned about..." He said slowly. "This is too weird for me..."

"Well, its going to be more confusing for you here soon." Oak said, pulling up a chart for relationships between the elemental types. "We've been able to put nearly all pokemon into one or two of any of these categories, and they all have similarities and strengths and weaknesses."

"This makes sense, at least somewhat. Granted I'm used to whether its fish, mammal, bird, and so on, but this is doable..."

"Many pokemon have different stages of evolution that can be observed. Take for example, Ash's pikachu." he pulled up a chart in the bottom left corner and showed each stage, as well as videos of observed evolutions. "Now they are all born in eggs, start out in the stage of pichu. Once they get to a certain marker, in this case happiness, they evolve into pikachu. Then, when they come across a thunder stone," He pulls up a picture of one, "They evolve again into raichu."

"I see..." Lycian said quietly, thinking to himself. Oak noticed this and waited for him to be ready, but was surprised when what was asked next was, "Show me all the information about the pokemon you suspect I am.

"All right..." Oak said, quickly bringing up ditto's information. "Typically about one foot tall, a normal type, is capable of transforming into any known physical entity or pokemon. The object needs to be in front of them in most cases, and they are only able to use the moves that the object it copies knows how to do."

"Why is that the case? I can understand it can shapeshift, granted, the concept is foreign to me, considering that nothing I knew of could. But why, if It can change into anything, is it limited to what it can see? That doesn't seem to make sense, nor does only copying the moves that the copied knows. It'd make more sense to be able to change into the object its observed for some time, and then has to learn each move or action from experience."

"I'm not sure, though my best guess would indicate that if they attempt a form from memory, they have a chance of getting it wrong. That's a part of what I've dedicated myself to, and perhaps you can help us find those answers."

"We'll see. I have no idea why I'm even here, or where here is."

"You are..." Oak said slowly, drawing out his words as he pulled up a global map, slowly zooming in to their location, "Right here, in pallet town."

"Mind zooming back out enough to see the continental plates?"

"Of course."

As Oak did so, Lycian felt despair creep over him. The landscapes, while similar, were different enough to confirm he was no longer on the same plane as he had been before. On top of that confirmation, what would have been the north American continent, was so different in shape it would have been difficult to pinpoint where he had been in the first place.

Oak watched him and said quietly, "You're lost aren't you"

"Yeah, you could say that... this is not the globe I remember studying..." Pulling himself together he started to attempt to reconstruct the differences between their worlds, and then pointed out roughly where he was from.

"Amazing... That certainly is plausible considering a few changes in the evolutionary past and the way continents could have shifted." Oak said admiringly, then shook his head slightly and continued, "those are some of the basics of Pokemon and what trainers typically know. I won't go into more details about trainers rules and so on since you cannot be one."

"Enh, I'm not sure I'd be interested anyway."

"If there's anything else you'd like to know, then let me know."

Lycian nodded and then walked down the stairs and out the door, heading back to Ash's home. His thoughts sped right past him, then kept turning around and going through his mind, repeating that cycle and acting as the Novocaine for his ankle. Life wasn't that great where he was before, but it was still familiar.

He walked inside and headed to the couch, sitting down heavily and spacing out onto the coffee table. Without realizing it, his mood quickly affected the others.

"What's wrong?" Delilah asked, walking to the couch and sitting nearby.

"I'm a long way from home... No real chance of getting back... and the rules on how the world works have changed." he said, letting out a long heavy sigh.

"Well, you find that out while growing up, and its only been a week..."

"Delilah, I'm eighteen. Just had my birthday not much more than a month ago. I know you're trying to help, but you don't understand."

Delilah frowned and got up off the couch, walking back to her chores. Ash came up then and said, "Come on, stop joking, you're only a couple weeks old. We know when you hatched."

A low growl crossed his throat then as he said, "I said I don't give a damn what you-"

"No cursing in this house!" Delilah yelled at him.

Lycian started to reply, then closed his mouth, growing into a surly mood, slouched on the couch brooding. He missed the motion of Misty pulling out a pokeball and looking at Ash, Ash nodding, and her hitting him on the head with the pokeball until it was too late. Lycian found himself being sucked into something again, and this time he fought it. The pokeball seemed to grow larger and suck him in completely, a small dark room with several lights all around. He threw himself at the different buttons, trying to hit as many as he could, but as he hit the first wall, he received so many different negative reactions he almost blacked out. Cold on his legs, burning on his arms, spazzing back muscles from electrical currents, and a physical strength draining. He laid down and tried to press one more, but fainted and was out cold before he knew it. The last thing he heard was Misty's voice coming from somewhere...

"I will not let you threaten my friends..."


	5. The Cave of Voices

(Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or anything else here that a company might want to sue for. Now why they would sue when they have a ton of money already I have no clue...

I'll say it again, PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! Or wait till the next chapter is up... i'm already halfway done with it)

Lycian woke up slowly, and struggled to remember what had happened. He remembered talking to Oak, then heading back, then being sucked into something. He groaned as he stirred, still with his eyes closed. Slowly, he tried to open his eyes. He almost regretted it.

The floor itself was white, an almost sterile color that caused him to remember hospitals and their obsession with cleanliness. He then realized he was face down, and rolled over to his side, then sat up. It took him a minute, still not being very coordinated in his unshapely form. A bed could be seen on his right hand side in the corner. It was twice his size in terms of length and width, but as tall as he was currently. Right next to the bed was a pokeblock dispenser, which for all he could tell looked like a gumball machine for brick candies. To his left there was a console, but no display.

He knew he wasn't ready to check it out quite yet. He turned and saw that behind him was a door. He wasn't sure where it led, but suspected it was the bathroom. He almost wanted to go check if his guess was correct, but didn't want to test it quite yet.

So, Lycian waddled over to the bed, curious about it and the machine. Then, as soon as he reached it, he shook his head at himself. Quickly he closed his eyes and shapeshifted to his human self, but when he opened his eyes, instead of reaching the ceiling like he had expected, the proportions for the room changed.

The gumball machine now came up to chest height, the bed was about a twin size, the panel on the other side of the room was still seeming to be as distant as before, and the door was more accommodating to humanoids.

"What the heck..." he muttered to himself, sitting on the bed. He then looked over the feeder and found a button he could push where normally he would have put a quarter in. To his amusement, it brought down the pokeblock, slid it along some plastic or glass, and pushed it partly out of the exit. He reached for it and munched.

"Mmm! Nice and sweet... but spicy too... nice." he said pleased. He continued to eat it slowly, enjoying the flavor, surprised at its consistency, and then stretched. A slight twinge came from his ankle. Pleasantly surprised at how little pain he felt from it, he looked down at it, only to find very little bruising remaining.

At that moment the lighting became much less, imitating a dusk-like setting, and the display area of the room shrunk and disappeared. His overall room size became that of a studio apartment. He sighed and closed his eyes. Drowsiness hit him as his mind started to fail at coping with the new reality he was starting to face...

Misty and Ash breathed lighter after the red light turned off on the pokeball, showing that he was captured.

"Well... Guess he'll need some extra training..." Ash said quietly.

"Yeah. If I felt sorry for him before, I don't now."

"Whatdya mean? Why would you feel sorry for it? Its just faking..."

"I'm not so sure... Oak seems to think that he used to be human."

"But... that's impossible! No one can turn something into a pokemon..."

"I know... one one hand, how could someone be so clueless about pokemon if they really lived that long? But then again... I don't remember togepi talking at all, and I had her for a couple years..." she let out a sad sigh at that, reminiscing about her pokemon.

"Yeah... well, if you don't want it, lemme know ok?" Ash said, trying to hide the hope in his voice

"don't hold your breath..." Misty said quietly, only so that she could hear. When ash turned to look at her, she smiled and went up to her room.

The rest of that day's events were uneventful, aside from moments where Lycian's pokeball would wobble, but the next morning after breakfast, Oak dropped by to visit and started to debrief them on what he knew so far, but stopped himself.

"Where's Lycian?"

Ash and Misty looked at each other before she let him out of the pokeball.

Lycian was in human form, and appeared to be shivering with his whole body before straightening out.

"God that feels so weird... What the h-" He started to say but as his tongue started to slip, he noticed the look Misty was giving him and held back what he was about to say. "... don't have to be so uptight...."

"What's this about?" Oak asked.

"Nothing. Someone's just got a foul mouth." Misty said, glaring at Lycian.

"You should have heard the guys at school..." He muttered but said nothing more

"Well, as I was about to say, We're just about to get going. I've got a map for you on how to get down to where the door is," Oak said as he handed the map to Misty. "all i need you three to do is take some pictures and try to ink in the letters where you can."

"What about trying to open it?" ash asked

"We'll worry about that one later. I've got your cell phone right here," He hands misty a cell phone, "It only can call emergency and my number, so only use it if you have to. Its pretty powerful though, especially to get through as much rock at it does."

"Anything else?" Misty asked

"Stay safe."

"No problem!" Ash said, followed by a "Pika pika!" from his shoulder rider.

"Then lets get going!" Oak said with a laugh. All three of them started to follow, chuckling to varying degrees when Misty, remembering Lycian was still out and she wasn't ready to deal with him yet, pulled out the pokeball, enlarged it, pressed its button, and recalled him.

--

Lycian was watching Misty as Oak finished, keeping tabs on her while they spoke. He knew there was something odd about being sucked into that room, and then on a whim being pulled out. Considering he knew he wasn't on good terms with Misty right now, he figured it was only temporary, the only question was how he was going to be put away again.

He heard everything that oak said, he wasn't foolish enough to miss out on that since there's always a chance of it being useful later. As soon as oak was finished talking, he chuckled for a second, recognizing the joke, weak as it was, and walked slightly behind and to the right of Misty. From there he got a clear view of her pulling out the pokeball, pressing the button to enlarge it, and the amount she had to turn the pokeball and what was aimed at him. By the time the beam hit him, he knew what to watch out for.

She missed the slight glare that was hidden as much as he could while still making it visible and she'd get this message, but that was fine with him. Now he knew what happened, now he just wanted to figure out why. Granted the sterilized white was driving him crazy, as was the lack of entertainment, but he listened to the events that were happening outside up until they got into the helicopter. Then the whirring of blades was all that he could hear until he turned down the volume so it wouldn't block out all thought.

He sighed and laid on the bed, falling asleep with his thoughts of figuring out how the pokeball's technologies worked.

--

The ride itself was about three hours, during which Ash and Misty sight-saw and kept themselves occupied, much like they had while traveling in years past.

However, when they arrived on site, instead of powering off the helicopter and waiting for them like they thought, he lifted off and flew away again. Ash and Misty looked at each other, shrugged, re-shouldered their packs, and walked into the cave. It wasn't until after they went in far enough they had to use flashlights that Misty hit herself on the forehead with her palm.

She reached into her pack and pulled out a pokeball. "You have to behave or else in you go again... no matter how much work you do." and then released Lycian.

He appeared again, still human, and made the same shivering motion as before, but not quite as badly, mainly along the back.

"I swear I will never get used to that..." He said straightening up.

"Did you hear me?" Misty said as she handed him a flashlight.

He looked at her for a moment, turned on the flashlight and said, "Where's the map?"

"I have it here." She said, pulling it out. "Now answer my question."

Without warning he grabbed it, "Do I have ears?" and then ran into the cave, flashlight keeping the map and path lit as he read it.

He knew he had to move fast if he hoped to keep from being withdrawn again. Something told him they didn't want to keep him out for very long and he wasn't about to lose his chance at getting some work done for Oak. After all, if he did Oak a favor, Oak might help him get some semblance of a life back.

At least, that's what he kept trying to tell himself as he headed down into the cave, but as he continued, he felt something nag at the back of his mind. _You should know where you are._ something seemed to say. He nearly spoke out loud to it saying, "No I don't," but caught himself just in time.

Ash and Misty continued to pursue him. Without even realizing it, he stopped using the map, and then dropped it. he groaned, but then ducked behind a stalagmite and turned off his flashlight, hoping he could trust this odd feeling of where he should be going next once they were out of his hair.

The two stopped at the map and looked at it, unaware of Lycian being nearby. But Misty's face grew paler as she looked over the map.

"what's wrong mist?"

"we're not on the path..."

"what? how can you tell?"

"it shows where it branches off each time... we took this turn here..." she said pointing out the spot on the map halfway along.

"do we head back?" Ash asked

"No... We've still got to catch my ditto."

Lycian couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that, and then turned on his flashlight and continued to dash inward, a voice plaguing him all along the way as crystal like rocks reflected the light he shone at them, Ash and misty in pursuit, not even reacting to the voice.

(note for the readers, sorry bout the interruption but to make it clear, the bold italics is the voice and the regular italics is Lycian's response in thought.)

_**Will you be the one?**_

_I don't know what you're talking about..._

_**I have waited a long time...**_

_For what... better yet, why the heck are you in my mind!?_

_**You are receptive to my aura...**_

_I'm not into mystic hoodoo voodoo._

_**You will understand in time... turn left.**_

_Why!_

Lycian felt himself argue with the voice, hoping more for answers instead of just arguing. Something bugged him to the core that slowly started to settle down as if he were listening to calm music. Without even making a conscious choice he turned left into a small passage, confusing Ash and Misty as they follow. He continued for a little bit before coming up to a different doorway, but in the place of the door there was only smooth stone.

_**Touch the door.**_

_Why... to trigger a booby trap?_ Even as he thought it, he started to reach for the door.

_**A test... to see if you are able...**_

_Able to do what? _He touched the door, just as Misty reached for the pokeball. Instantly there was no more need for the flashlights as there was an overabundance of light. It was so sudden and harsh to their eyes that they recoiled. Much to Lycian's surprise, he was unable to remove his hand from the door.

The light faded as quickly as it came, but it left everyone seeing spots, save Lycian. It was almost anticipated, and he closed his eyes just before it happened. What surprised him was that he saw faint blue swirls even while there was no more light.

_**You are interesting... You may pass.**_

He no longer questioned the voice, partly because a part of him had been tamed by this experience, but also because Ash and Misty approached him, attempting to get answers.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Misty said angrily. Ash had enough sense to stay quiet.

"I may pass..." he said quietly

"Pass what? the path? we went straight past it thanks to you, and I have half a mi...nd.... to..." She fumed, but as she spoke, the door started to glow a dark blue. It didn't give off much usable light, but outlined numerous phrases and pictures. And as it opened inward slowly, there was a circular chamber within.

_**Approach. You are not the one... but you have much you can learn, and you are most suited in a while...**_

_Suited for what?_

_**Using aura... One more test awaits you though, and if you pass you are to be the first in a line of knights for your era, and will take up my vigil in waiting for the one...**_

_How did you know... Just what are you talking abo-_

"Lyce!" Misty said, jerking his shoulder back to face her.

"huh? wha?" he said confused.

"That was the third time I called you... what are you talking about?"

"I was... talking?"

"Something about being suited and asking how did we know... What do we know?" Ash said quickly.

"but... I didn't say..." He started to say before they heard the stone door click behind them. As silently as it opened, it shut.

Ash and Misty started to freak out in their own ways. Ash started to hit the door while Misty held back a scream. Unfortunately the more Ash pounded the door, the more the blue light faded.

"Ash stop it right now!"

"Let us out! Heeeeeyyyy!" He yelled, giving it one more final hit. With that last pound, all light they had was gone. "Oops..."

_**Now what will you do?**_

"Its ok guys... don't panic..."

"Don't panic!? This is all your fault! You lead us here, you made that door close and you'll make it open up again!" Misty yelled out, which she regretted almost immediately. Her voice echoed perfectly in the chamber and caused her voice to become so loud it almost knocked them out with pain from their ears.

"listen to me... I don't know why I went where I did, but I will try to undo this mess... ok? now where's that phone Oak gave you?" Lycian said quietly

"Yes! right here!" she said quietly in return, still somewhat miffed, but calming at the prospect of escape. She pulled it out and opened the phone. Light came from the device, but then the battery died. "Oh go figure... Oak, you forget to charge the phone when we need it..."

_**Solutions do not come that readily... You cannot get any help from this one.**_

In response, more to himself than to the voice, he thought and whispered, "When I was first brought here, my hand lit the door... i wonder if it would light the room..." And with that, he placed his hand on the ground. One single thread of light, this time a lighter blue but faint, stretched between him, the door that was now behind him, and a podium like stone in front of him. it stopped at the base, then outlined it.

Without a word everyone went over to it and looked at it, or expectantly at Lycian, who once more put his hand on the surface, though with more hesitance.

The entire surface of the panel glowed a dark blue, but the letters which appeared on it were a light blue.

"So this is what oak meant..." Misty said as she looked.

"Yeah... they do look like the unown, but..." Ash said, trying to remember.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I know I don't know that language..." Lycian squinted at the letters. The more he tried to focus on them, the less sense they made.

"neither do we..."

He tried to focus more on the letters, when he realized the more he did, the less he saw, he relaxed. Closing his eyes slowly he began his own ritual of calming. He slowed his breathing, let his mind wander, and finished closing his eyes, still looking at the lettering because they still became a focal point.

For a split second they started to make sense, almost as if the letters shifted into english, but the moment he tried to refocus on it, he lost it.

_**Take your time... You will not run out of anything you need other than time...**_

Misty watched Lycian again, half tempted to speak up again, but fell silent when he atttempted to calm himself again. Thankfully, within a minute he mastered getting himself to the point where he could read the writing without causing himself to lose his sight of what he could read.

The start is at the beginning

The ending is at the end.

But not in all things can they be seen

Before the world was here it was so

Stand in the middle if you dare

See the cycle reach its peak

Or stand on the circle in a spot

On any one will your story will fold

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked as he heard Lycian read it out loud to them.

"Don't ask me..." he started to say, but then the pedestal went dark, and then a second one lit. Quickly they went over to it and Lycian once again began to read, once he reached that reading state.

Both paths hold a story and a past

Both options a power will be shed

Some seek to gain power

Some seek to share it

Go to the middle to gain

Go to the edge to share

Neither road is bad or good

Now you must decide where you will stand

Lycian looked down as the area between the two pedestals lit, and there in front of their eyes laid a circle. Inside that circle there was another, though with several squares evenly spaced on it. Then in the middle there was another square.

"So.... what does that mean?" Ash asked again.

"I think..." Lycian responded slowly, but gained speed as he was more certain of his answer, "I think its saying that in order to get out, we have to get on this thing..."

"There's got to be more to it than that..." Misty said, butting in her sarcasm.

"I wasn't finished... the thing is, if someone's in the middle, then they'll gain the abilities or something, of the things in each of those spots in that circle there... but whoever is on that circle shares it all instead."

_**Very close. You may not say any more. Your friends do not have a choice here. They will need to be on the circle. Once you take your place, that is when this cycle will begin anew, and my understanding of your role in it will become clear.**_

_What happens then?_

_**I will decide what and if to teach you, when you return to the tree of beginning, since it is your abilities at stake...**_

"What kinds of abilities are we talking about?" Misty asked

"I have no clue... maybe its just a distraction from what we really need to do. Maybe I'm dreaming and I'll wake up."

Ash smirked and winked at pikachu, who got the hint. Without saying its name very loudly in the small attack, Lycian received a jolt that, while it wouldn't faze Ash, left him jerking involuntarily, wiping the feet out from under him.

"Ow! ... ow... " he said as he tried to regain his muscular control. "ok... so much for dreaming..."

Misty glared at Ash before asking, "so who gets to stand in the middle?"

Lycian told her without coating it, "I'm guessing I have that option... but I noticed it doesn't say you have to have anyone in the middle... what if we all just stood on a square in the circle?"

"It's worth a shot... come on mist, what'dya say?" He said as he stood on one square. The square tile glowed a little brighter it seemed before going back to its previous intensity. Misty hesitated, then stepped onto another square. It did the same, and then after she looked down, she looked at Lycian.

"You're still in trouble... So help me when we get back I'm going to ground you to your pokeball for a week."

At that he felt himself grow angry at her again, and almost wanted to rush to the center just to spite her, but he calmed himself yet one more time. He wasn't sure anymore if any of this was real. The lights, the crystals, the voice, it all seemed unreal and dreamlike. Besides, if it was a test, he wasn't going to fail for patience or anger.

Slowly he stopped onto the square on the circle that would form a perfect triangle between the three of them. the room went dark, his body felt numb, and the world started to haze. The last thing he heard was _**I will teach you... remember....**_

_--_

_Well, I finished adding in what I wanted for this chapter. Sorry for not adding more to the end, but it fit better in the next chapter... So, hope you enjoy. I'm still cranking it out as I go about life in general._


	6. Learning Steps part 2

-- Chapter 6: Learning steps, part 2

The next thing they knew, they were groaning and pulling themselves up from the ground they were laying on. The helicopter was powered down and the pilot was out and kneeling by Ash.

"You ok kids?" he said, shaking ash's shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm ok... you all right pikachu?"

"Pika!"

"I've been better..." Misty said, pulling herself into a sitting position. She looked over to Lycian, who was still mostly out cold. She looked for her bag, and still mad at him for putting them through that room, recalled him into his pokeball before he even opened his eyes.

"Well, I told the professor you weren't here to be picked up last night, and if you didn't show up this morning, I was supposed to organize a search and rescue party!"

"We were out all night!? We only got in midday!"

"Well, get in the chopper. I've got a lunch in there you can share. Ready to head back?"

Misty and Ash nodded, he and pikachu more enthusiastic about the food than going back. As the pilot got the chopper started up, they consumed the food in the lunch pail.

The three hours back left them talking to each other about the events of last night. They kept asking each other what abilities they had and what would have been shared. Neither one of them talked for a while once Misty brought up the possibility of reading each other's minds or sharing memories. It was somewhat short lived since they started to realize that they were just making stuff up and had a good laugh about it.

It wasn't until they were dropped off at Oak's pad did Misty realize that all that time they spent, they left out one thing in their guesswork... Lycian.

She was almost about to speak up about it, when Oak came up to them, gave misty a friendly hug and checked in on both of them.

"Are you two all right?"

"Yeah professor, you wouldn't believe what we found!" Ash said enthusiastically, quickly trying to tell him about all the things they came across. Naturally, as most boys tend to do, he focused on the parts he found interesting, the crystals, the writing, the riddle, but failed to mention much of Lycian's part in it. Oak tried to follow as best he could, but felt as if he was missing some details, especially when he saw Misty acting spacey with her thoughts.

"Earth to Misty... there we go." he said as he caught her attention, "Mind telling me how you got sidetracked? Or what seems to be worrying you so?"

"I'm not worried..." she said, half convincingly. Truth was, she wasn't sure whether she should worry or not. "It was lycian... he tried to run away as soon as he was let out."

"I see... well, remind me to thank him and ask for details later. I take it you're not ready to have him out now?"

"No... I'm not." she said, holding the pokeball instinctively.

"Ah... Do you know which de-" He started to say, when Misty's pokeball opened.

Lycian appeared, standing up right in front of Misty, between her and oak. He didn't seem to react quite as badly to the appearance as before, already looking around as Misty started to sigh and point the pokeball at him.

As quick as lightning, he grabbed her wrist along with the pokeball with his closest hand, a grip holding them as tightly as only desperation would. He gave her a face that was almost scary to look at, born of a half fear and anger that drained out any other emotions. His voice however, only gave indications of anger, though well contained, as he made his threat known.

"Well I am... I am not your dog to be summoned at will... and you _will _start giving me some respect or so help me you'll know what a pain I can be. Got that?" Misty's face flushed, her strength draining from her. She wasn't sure why that was, especially considering the thugs she's had to fend off at times. It wasn't that he was stronger than her, if anything, he was one of the weakest guys she'd met. Still, something he said struck a chord in her that unnerved her. She half wondered if it was the growl that was almost half noticeable in his voice as he said it.

Lycian, letting go of the pokeball, allowed his anger to vanish as quickly as he had appeared, letting go of the pokeball and hand and facing Oak in a neutral but professional manner, explaining the chain of events that transpired, as best he could remember.

Oak listened in silence, at first disturbed by his change in personality, but it gave way to curiosity as he heard certain key details that were omitted by ash, such as the size of the crystals, the general shape of the lettering, the glowing within the stone, their reactions upon being touched, and the structure of the caverns.

It was a while before anyone spoke, and no one had mentioned the poem, despite Ash saying the platform getting them out. Lycian was not keen on giving away that information, or the messages that he received in the cavern among the crystals.

Oak thought before asking, "so why did you grab the map and run?"

"I suspected that I wouldn't be out for any longer than absolutely necessary, so I hoped to get to the location before them and prove myself so that way I could ensure my freedom, or at least extend it."

"Why did you go the route you did?"

Lycian hesitated before saying slowly, "I had a gut feeling that was where I needed to go. When I encountered the crystals, that feeling was amplified and I was 95% certain of where I needed to go, instead of about 20."

Misty got over her feelings around that moment and had half a mind to recall him into the pokeball that moment, despite Oak still questioning him, but decided against it. Every time that thought came into her head, his voice came along with it. "I'm not a dog you can summon at will." _I never said you were a dog.... _"Give me some respect..." she shook her head again to clear it, but it would not escape her mind.

"Misty?" Oak asked quietly. As much as Lycian was angry at her, even he showed slight signs of concern.

"I... its nothing... just can't get something out of my head, that's all..."

"Care to talk about it?" Oak asked.

"You didn't like what I said, did you." Lycian interjected, eyes narrowing, as if examining her.

For a brief moment Misty wanted to glare at him, but then stopped herself before she let it out. "No. that's not it. Its the poem..."

"poem?" Oak asked. Lycian took a slight step backward, on the pretense afterward of shifting his weight to be comfortable, but his face went a little whiter.

Misty took pleasure in this and continued to explain as much about that as she could. By the time she finished, Lycian felt very weak, though still standing.

"But, what abilities could any of you share?" Oak began to ask, before turning to Lycian. "Are you all right?"

It was an odd feeling for him, being that weak and almost unable to stand, but he was afraid. Something down to the very core of him was afraid, almost as if anything more would break him. He wasn't sure why that was quite yet. Even as this was happening to him, he wondered if it was an aftereffect of the pedestal, and then tried to say so.

"Maybe... its from... that... room..." Trying to speak though, caused him to feel incredibly nauseous. He knelt down and was breathing heavily.

"Misty, did you ever have him checked out by Nurse Joy?" Oak asked quickly. She looked back at him wide eyed and open mouthed, which told him his answer. "Get him to her asap. He could have contracted something."

As soon as he finished saying that, Lycian shone briefly in the light of transformation and was a ditto again, sweating and breathing hard. Guilty now for neglecting to do what she should have done, human or not, she picked him up and rushed as quickly as she could over to the center, Ash and pikachu immediately behind.

Ash spoke up first as they made their dash, "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know!"

They took a turn around the last block of homes and made their way to the Pokemon center, which was built on the outskirts of town about a year ago. Ash tried to make a joke about how it was out of the way, but pikachu and Misty didn't laugh.

--

Joy sighed as she reorganized her cabinets for the third time. She knew she didn't want to be busy 24/7 like many of her cousins, but she didn't mean that she didn't want to work on Pokemon at all. She loved to help, but never liked being rushed.

She finished her reordering, walking over to the counter and checking to make sure that she still had all of her minor injury kits and potions available. She sighed again, sad now because her pokecenter was too small to have a chancey except in emergencies.

Joy walked over to the front doors, almost hoping for someone to come by and even visit for a little while, when she saw two people running full out toward her doors. She smiled, but with a slight grimace. It did not look good, which meant it wouldn't be easy, but it would break her from her boredom.

She activated the motion sensor doors for them so they didn't have to slow down, then stepped to the side as they ran right into the middle of the room before stopping, panting.

Joy gave a quick glance over them, noting Misty and who he was, but was looking for Pokemon. The pikachu that they had with them seemed to be extremely fit and healthy, so it couldn't be the problem.

As soon as Misty turned to face her though, it was no longer in question who was in trouble. She went over to reach for the ditto. Misty helped hand it over and started to talk about what happened as she looked over the ditto.

"We were just standing together talking, when..."

_Hard to tell if the eyes are dilating... its got a temperature, roughly 10 degrees hotter than normal, its going to dehydrate at this rate..._

"and then it untransformed and then started getting like this."

"How long ago did it start?" _next to no response to physical stimuli, labored breathing..._

"Just about five minutes ago."

"All right, Ill get to work on it right away. How old is it?"

The two looked at each other before Misty said, "It hatched about two weeks ago."

Joy winced internally. _No wonder it's having difficulties! _"All right. I'll check back with you about inoculations after its condition has stabilized."

Without any further talk, she rushed into one of her operating rooms, laid it on its back on the table, and then got out some of the cooling pads from her cabinet, placing them on the ditto's sides. It wriggled a bit, but stayed in place.

_Good, its calming down, but its breathing isn't any better..._

She pulled out some vitamin supplements, put them in a small squirt-bottle, and dissolved them into some water from the faucet before closing the bottle up.

Carefully she put the end into its mouth, and it clamped on the end readily enough. She then slowly pulled the trigger, letting it have a chance to drink at the pace it was ready to.

She relaxed a bit when it gulped down the vitamin water with no issues. Its condition had lightened, and now that it was getting to a stabler point, it was time to address the issue itself. Carefully, she took a blood sample, and then placed it in the machine to be analyzed. It took a minute or two, so in the meantime she took away the cold packs, as the poor thing was freezing now, and continued to give it some vitamin water from the bottle until a low tone rang, indicating it was done.

She went over to look at the cell counts. She was surprised to see as many antibodies in the sample as there were. It was more common to find that much in the average human. She then looked at how many white blood cells there were, and her suspicions were confirmed as she saw it was higher than normal. She then told the machine to identify the bacteria and viruses, so that way she could figure out which medicine to give.

It was done almost immediately, since the scan automatically tries to identify anything that does not belong in the bloodstream. She narrowed her eyes as she saw the early bacteria of Stripes, a disease that she nearly failed her exam on. It first went after the cells that are designed to give energy to the body, like a parasite, and then would start to consume the organs at random.

She went over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the vaccine and a shot, filling it. Carefully, she placed the needle into its side, having a hand next to it in an effort to keep it calm. It struggled slightly, but kept as still as possible.

She cocked her brow at it, but withdrew the needle after injecting the medicine. Satisfied with her work, she put her instruments away, washed her hands, and then walked back outside.

--

Ash and Misty watched her walk inside the doors, carrying the ditto in her arms, still examining it. Then they walked back to the waiting area of the pokecenter.

"It'll be all right Misty... come on, sit down."

"I can't. First he tosses us into that room, then I realized what he did to us, then he threatens me, then he's sick..."

"What he did to us? What do you mean?"

"What if... what if we will transform just like he can... that's the ability that's shared ash! He can transform like a ditto!"

Ash recoiled visibly in surprise. "No way... you mean I can turn into a pikachu whenever I want!?" he said loudly in excitement. Pikachu grew antsy in sharing that excitement, a grin plastered on their faces.

"Maybe... but can we turn back again if that..." she was going to continue, then as she paced away from Ash she muttered, "It was probably all just a weird dream..." and then turned back.

Ash, unable to wait, had already been looking at pikachu and trying to get himself to turn into one. As soon as Misty turned around, he figured out how to do it.

She gaped at him in surprise. He could be so immature at times, well, most of the time. But then she did a double take, and realized something was wrong. Ash's pikachu body seemed a bit more curved than before, and then turned from pikachu and looked at Misty. The tail came into full view, and then she laughed herself blue.

"What's so funny Misty?" he said, reaching over to grab his hat from where it fell, only to put it on his head.

She was too unable to answer as she tried to get herself to stop. It wasn't until pikachu came over and gave Ash a lick on the cheek, and then pulled Ash's tail into sight. Its end was shaped in a heart.

He was about ready to panic, already making the quick change into a human again. He then looked at misty and said loudly, "That's not funny!"

She laughed again and said, "Oh yes it is!" but stopped at that point, as the operation light turned off and her thoughts once again turned to the ditto.

Pikachu got up on Ash's shoulder and tried to pat his head, but Ash was in a sour mood and only gave a half-hearted "thanks pikachu."

-----

well? What do you think? Any good so far? I've unfortunately slowed down in my writing of this fiction, but that's partly due to a contract I signed for my book _Wolfheart_ with my partner. We have a deadline now where we need to get the book (well... books) done within a year of our signed date. As much as I've gotten 75 or so pages written, I'm only a tenth of the way done. If I don't finish, my partner is able to buy my idea out completely, something I'm not ready to have happen... So, if it takes a while to get another chapter out, know that's because life in general and writing my book is taking up all my time.

Hope to persevere and write a few chapters for you anyway!


	7. A Time for Discovery partly done

-- Chapter 7: A time for discovery

(I still thank my readers for getting this far. I will now admit that this will probably be my last chapter that I can release for a while. Not that the story is finished by any means! But my difficulty is, I now found a job *hears cheering* and on top of that signed the contract that requires me to get the story my partner and I want published by February of next year. Between those two I do not anticipate much time to type chapters up here. I would certainly be willing to continue, but I'd like to hear back from more of you, especially since I have these few newer chapters. If you don't want to leave a comment, please email me at )

Oak was up in his lab, making a report to the board of scientists he was a part of. There seemed to be a slowing of discoveries, which was disheartening, but unavoidable. He continued thinking about different avenues that they could attempt to explore.

There seemed to be a growing interest in people wanting to live like a particular Pokemon they fancied across the different regions. Some people were just after power, based on personal observations, some after ordinarily taboo desires, and some did not enjoy their humanity any longer and glorified the Pokemon existence.

As much as he didn't picture himself in that boat, he could see the usefulness in their becoming a Pokemon and then explaining how they do what they do. Even a few hints would have been helpful, especially since he was approaching a wall with his research. He added that thought of wishful hope to his report, wondering when that technology would be released and how the reactions would be from the public, government, and Pokemon.

As he sent his report along the network he leaned back in his chair daydreaming for a brief moment, when Misty and Ash walked up the stairs heavily and quickly. He barely had enough time to straighten up in his chair and turn to face them.

"Misty! Ash! I'm surprised to see you again today... what brings you up here?"

"I think we figured out what happened professor... show him Ash." She said, turning to him with an arm motion to encourage Ash.

"Why do I have to? Why can't you?"

Oak held up his hands and said, "Now hold on just one minute... What are you talking about?"

Misty sighed and then said, "All right, I'll try... Ash won't because he's too ashamed that he forgot to remember to be a guy when he did it." she had a brief smile before looking at ash's pikachu, focusing on it and trying to picture turning into it.

Oak watched her intrigued at what they were attempting to accomplish, remembering that they were more into action instead of words. His intrigue changed to surprise as she was encompassed by the light that accompanies transformation and evolution, and then saw a particularly cute pikachu.

Ash's pikachu went down to the floor from its shoulder perch, and then started to check Misty out. Oak stared in amazement, making no comments quite yet. Misty then proceeded to look herself over, and pleased with how well it turned out, turned back into herself.

"How did you two manage..." he said, voice trailing off.

"We forgot about Misty's ditto." Ash said.

"Ahhh..." Oak said, continuing his thoughts. "And just where is he?"

"In his pokeball. I still don't like that he ran off on me."

"Do you think you could let him out for a little while? I have some questions for him... and you might too."

"What do you mean?"

"He might have a better idea of how to do this than you, considering this is what dittos typically do."

Misty stood in front of him and frowned, looking down and to the side in consideration. He could tell things were not going well between the two, and he wondered how long it had been since she had caught a wild Pokemon. He would have guessed quite a while ago, considering she seemed to have forgotten how to earn the trust of new members.

"Misty... I won't pretend to know whether what you're doing is right or not. But I will say that you have lost your touch."

"I have not!" she said defensively

"Of course not... that's why you're having so much trouble with a newly hatched ditto..."

"Its nothing! I can handle it!"

He sighed, "Very well. Misty, I'd like to speak with him. Alone."

She tensed, showing signs that she might very well not do what he asked. Then she reluctantly handed the pokeball to him and walked out. Ash looked at pikachu, who said a few words in its language. Ash then grinned and turned into a pikachu again. Oak tried to watch and see how the transformation took place, but it was too difficult for the naked eye. Ash quickly turned to look at his tail, and to his dismay, it still held a heart. Pikachu went over to Ash, tapped him on the shoulder with a loud "Pi! Pika pi!" and ran off. By his best guess, which was supported by ash chasing him, was that they were now playing tag.

He looked the pokeball over for a brief moment, and then released Lycian. He was in his human form, which came as no surprise anymore. He stood, still shook slightly and then turned to face Oak.

"Long time no see... it's boring as all out in that..."

His curiosity got the better of him, asking, "Really? What is it like in there?"

With good detail, Lycian described the room as best he could, noting without being asked the consistency in size regardless of his own shape or size. It caused Oak to wonder about how the pokeball was made, regardless of whether it is made out of metal or berry pits. Then his mind attempted to return to the subject he had wanted to discuss.

"Lycian, were you aware that Ash and Misty can now be pikachu?"

"Only at the same moment you were. If anything that's what woke me up, was me hearing them come to you like elephants up the stairs."

"Like what?"

"A large several ton animal I know of. If I see something I can compare it to, I'll try to remember to do so next time."

"Ah. What are your thoughts?"

"It certainly fits with the information on the poem, along with other details I'm not permitted to share." He said, intending to continue, but Oak raised a hand and asked a question.

"There's more to your story than before?"

"Yes, but considering that I was the only one to hear it, and there were instructions pertaining only to me and affecting the choices that I made, I do not feel it is appropriate to share that information."

"I see..." Oak said disappointed, but not wanting to pry further. "So do you have any details on how much your abilities would be shared?"

"Not a clue, but typically speaking where there's previously an unlimited amount of transformations in some books I've read, mainly fantasy, that gets split between several members, the unlimited becomes limited in some way, shape or form. In addition, I'd expect any sort of co-ordination needing to be developed for each and every form we'd be able to have, since we'd be completely new to them."

Oak nodded, liking the mindset of this boy. As much as he had his drawbacks, he understood data and could infer reasonable projections, though more research would still need to be done. It sounded to Oak a little too final, as if he already found the answer.

"How many forms would you be able to take would you say?"

He shook his head, "Its too hard for me to know without making an attempt, and if I am limited, I do not wish to waste any forms on the pursuit of finding the number for the limit." Oak smiled at this, understanding the wisdom behind his thought, then listening further, he said, "If you'd bring up the chart again, I suppose I could compile a list of forms I'd prefer, and see how far down I could go. Still, It would take me a long time, probably several weeks of studying each of their advantages and disadvantages before making any decisions... not to mention some studies wherever possible."

"I'll do the best I can for you there, but on one condition."

"What condition?" Lycian said, looking at Oak with suspicion.

"I'd like you to be my assistant here, and when you're not trying to study or create that list, you'll give me what information you can about some questions I've always had about Pokemon, like how they are able to do their attacks, their evolution... nothing too hard..."

Lycian relaxed visibly. "Is this an unpaid position? How many hours a week will I work? What's my schedule going to be like?"

"Well, I can arrange for you to be paid some, perhaps 500 poke an hour-"

"I'm not familiar with that currency... How much would, say, a meal at a buffet cost?"

"Well... Its been a while since I went to one but, 300-400 poke?"

He did some quick number crunching in his head. _Ordinarily, it would cost between eight and twelve dollars per person, dividing 400 by ten, the average price is forty... so roughly forty poke equals a dollar, and this wage would be equal to twelve and a half dollars an hour! _

"I would accept that."

"as far as hours, well, it'll have to be flexible. We'll have to see when work comes along, since some things are done at night and others during the day, depending on what study we're about to do... I don't have anything lined up at the moment, but I'll try to let you know when I do."

"when do we start?"

"Now.

(this is where I have left off. I post this even though its incomplete due to my loss of having a home now, and my job is no longer certain. So please be warned that I no longer can say that I will be able to get chapters out steadily or at all quickly until I get a home or into a homeless shelter, or until I find a job and get a home of my own.)


	8. The First day of work

(My thanks to my readers, who's base has increased from my side writings of romances, who's patience has let me be able to get to the point where I feel like writing again. Things still aren't what they should be, but at this point, I have learned how to survive and will continue to do so. I'm hoping to write at least one page worth a day now, and try to post semi-regularly. Well, now for the story you've been waiting for...)

Lycian started working with Professor Oak right away. When Oak gestured for him to follow down the stairs and outside he was uncertain what work they'd be a part of, but any job was better than none, and he was already off to a decent enough start in his mind.

"What are we doing first?"

"Well, ordinarily, we'd first we have to feed some of the pokemon that don't live on the grass outside, and then we would start exercises for some of them, and then get to work on our project and experiment."

"What project are you currently working on?"

"Well, aside from training you, I don't have any projects in particular. Unfortunately I ran out of ideas of what to research. Many of my ideas require input from pokemon and knowing what they say and being able to question them. The fact of the matter is, I couldn't understand what they say and I don't know if they'd understand the questions that I have."

"And then I came along..." Lycian said quietly, attempting to be neutral but sounding more ironic about the situation than neutral.

"Indeed," Oak said, unperturbed by the interruption, "you may provide the key we need to knowing just how pokemon can do what they do, unlock some of the secrets behind their evolution and attacks!"

"We'll see what I can do. We may have to overcome the differences between our educations."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he said, passing by the flock of tauros as they walked aimlessly outside. "Even if our terms of measurement are the same, I have no idea if your equations are any different for what little I've learned about physics, or chemistry or whatnot, and if they are different, we have to worry about a method for conversion, as well as possibly creating new ones if we find the old ones are inconsistent with our discoveries."

"I see." Oak said, keeping his eyes straight ahead, "Did you know that all the tauros here are male?"

"What?" Lycian looked at him surprised. "But... how have they managed to avoid extinctio- wait... The tauros here are male? So there are females right?"

"Not a single one... at least, that we've been able to find."

"Then I return to my question," He said, stopping to turn and look at the herd. "How do they copulate then?" he turned slightly red at asking this but it came out before he stopped himself.

"Well... There are some pokemon like miltank that they mate with, and there's some dittoes... like yourself, that like being female, and approach them when they're willing."

Lycian stared across the herd, not focusing on anything in particular as he tried to think about it while avoiding thoughts of the mating, when he felt an odd breathing on his back. He jumped visibly, turning around quickly as Oak chuckled.

"I think she's curious about you... Lycian was it?"

"I suppose..." he said, slowing his breathing deliberately to slow his beating heart, and then looked at the Bayleef that was sniffing his back before, and now smiling at him, "Friendly little thing."

Oak watched as he tentatively reached out a hand to let her sniff it, only to jump slightly again as she put her head in his hand and waited to be petted. "That's partly because she belongs to Ash, but Bayleef are typically very docile creatures."

"I can tell." he said, partly chuckling himself. Then when he looked at Oak he saw only slight interest and confusion. "something wrong?"

"Well, I thought dittos had a hard time holding their form if they were to laugh, but you just laughed a little and didn't even struggle to hold your form."

"Well when you've lived for 18 years in one shape you kinda stick with it, even if it isn't the prettiest thing in the world." He said, as a mild joke back. "Could you explain more about this one?"

"Certainly." Oak said, beginning to break down as much about the pokemon as he could remember. Lycian listened idly, stroking the bayleef and studying her from most angles. When oak finished a quarter of an hour later, lycian nodded.

"Do you want to grab pen and paper?"

"What for?" Oak asked bewildered.

"We have your project to work on. I've decided to test my first deliberate form as a bayleef. First, I'll attempt to transform into a bayleef, and then see if I have the capability to speak to you as well as I do now. Second, we shall test my coordination abilities, assuming that I do have that capability, otherwise I shall revert to this form in order to tell you what I know of the process and as much data as possible before assuming that test. Third, well... we'll get to that afterward. After all, testing procedures need to be flexible enough to allow for exploration of other questions that come up at the time right?"

Oak chuckled, surprised at how readily he was adjusting to his position, and wondering if he had done any work like this before. "Well, how about all three of us head back to the lab? We don't have to be out here to do that kind of work."

Lycian and bayleef nodded, and when lycian noticed bayleef's reaction he asked, "Do most pokemon understand human speech?" He followed Oak, with bayleef following him.

"Many of them yes."

"That seems..." his brows narrowed as he tried to word his thoughts. "Unlikely."

"Why is that?"

"Well, generally speaking, nearly every animal that I have encountered or read about at home was either incapable of recognizing speech, at least without training and even that is just reflex after a while, or is intelligent but takes an incredible amount of work in order to get communication set up and its still very inaccurate."

"Its certainly not like that here! Nearly all pokemon understand what we say, and they're all very in tune with nature." Oak replied in his cheery nature, missing the eyeroll Lycian gave behind his back. "You'll see that soon enough for yourself i'm sure."

"I suppose I shall." He said with voice like ice.

They stepped into the basement laboratory, which overlooked the bluff and was partly underground at the same time. The area overlooking the bluff was kept mostly clear, aside from a few bowls lying around.

Oak went over to the computer and started typing the commands to start observation and making notes about the experiment and what was about to take place.

"Just let me know when you're ready. I'm not sure how you set up your documentation and i'm not about to tell you how since you've done this longer." Lycian said, waiting, and then asked bayleef, "Mind if I looked you over for a bit?"

Bayleef shook her head and watched him with slight nervousness as he circled her and tried to look at her from all angles again as oak typed away. Then, when Lycian thought he just about covered nearly all the angles he could of her, Oak called out to him.

"All right. Ready when you are."

Lycian nodded and then said, "We're going to first test if a transformation can be made just by thinking about an object. I'm hoping not as I don't want to think about an inanimate object and turn into it without effort and have to worry about being stuck like that, or losing the conscious part of myself. I'm now focusing my thoughts on bayleef, with no thoughts of actual transformation."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Oak already typing most of what he said, and focused his thoughts on bayleef, already mentally looking at her entire body from all angles. After about five seconds of doing that he opened his eyes and looked himself over.

"All right, that hypothesis, thankfully, is incorrect. It will take conscious effort to transform. Next step, to focus on the form I wish to be and picture how the transformation will take place."

Lycian repeated his previous steps, closing his eyes and relaxing his breathing, thinking about how he would shift from being into a human into a bayleef. He felt an odd tingle run down his spine as he did, but instinctively knew something was wrong, but then corrected himself, _Not wrong... missing._

He opened his eyes again and spoke without preamble, "well that didn't work. Subject observations include an odd tingling sensation down the vertebrae and a sensation of incorrectness when attempting that thought for transformation. I will now attempt to repeat that step, but this time try to enact that thought as I think it."

Lycian waited for Oak to finish typing his observations before closing his eyes and thinking once again about the transformation, but attempting to move with it. At that point he knew something was happening. He tried to step into the form, physically moving his body forward and lowering his top half to start standing on all fours, and started to become overwhelmed with the sensation.

He felt his body shift its weight, arms and legs getting thicker and losing his fingers and toes, his main body getting shorter but his density in everything getting thicker. His neck elongated as he flexed a little, feeling an itch on the top of his head as the leaf grew. He tried to picture a whole leaf, as opposed to one that looked bitten, hoping that would affect his appearance, and then tried to picture the original leaf as a picture on his neck with the same hope.

As quickly as it started, the feeling stopped, and he felt his body shake slightly. He kept his eyes closed as he tried to feel the difference internally. It looked to oak as if he was shaking his body of water like a dog would when it gets wet.

Lycian tried to open his eyes, and then quickly wished he hadn't. Bayleef had no depth perception and eyes set up like a bird's. His mind couldn't handle how the eyes sent the information of what he saw fully.

It was then he decided to start explaining. "Now testing my voice to... see..." he hesitated, feeling his voice sound much higher pitched and more, he thought about it for a second and decided it was more female than it had been.

"To see what?" Oak asked.

Lycian took another deep breath, noting how the air seemed to flow down his longer neck to his lungs. While it didn't seem any longer, it was still different.

"To see if you could understand. Personal note would be that my voice does change with each form according to the species... and gender." he said with a slight chuckle, which sounded more like a giggle to him in his new form.

Oak smiled but stuck to his note-taking as he listened for more from Lycian.

"Physical transformation seems complete, though disorientation is entirely possible. Make a note that we may need to explore if this will occur each time or if the change can be overcome by adaptation. Many species traits as expected are kept and any inappropriate physical traits that are not kept in mind in transformation are lost. Could you please check my assumption by seeing if I have a whole leaf on my head and a leaf symbol on my neck? I don't open my eyes quite yet so I don't lose my balance..."

"Of course." Oak said considerately, finishing his notes of the last things Lycian said before coming over and physically handling his leaf and neck, though gently.

Lycian visibly shivered and then said, "Nervous system apparently extends into the leaf... didn't expect that..."

Oak chuckled and backed off making his notes, "Well, we knew that much, but the leaf is whole and the symbol of the old leaf is on your neck in a darker green."

"So, that confirms my suspicion that you can affect what physical appearances you have, at least to an extent. I'm going to test my eyesight again..."

Ash and Misty returned to nurse Joy after they left Lycian with Oak, Misty still somewhat steamed about Lycian's behavior but feeling guilty over how they left with him in her arms as soon as Joy came back with him, promising they would be back afterward. She had hoped that she could go alone but Ash stuck with her, sensing somehow something was off, but more out of because they were friends he came with, enjoying his pikachu form, finally remembering how to turn into a boy and generally enjoying himself with tag and other impromptu games as they walked along.

_Why... Why can't I just have a regular pokemon... Why can't I just have it listen to me and it obeys... I don't ask all that much, yet._ She continued to think to herself in frustration as she walked toward the pokecenter, not even noticing that she walked into the center until she almost bumped into Nurse Joy.

"Whoah! Easy girl." Joy said as she backed off slightly from how close they were, and then leaned on the counter.

"Oh... sorry."

"All right, what's wrong now?" Joy asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Huh? Nothing's wrong..." Misty said, her voice trailing off.

"Of course. You bring me a sick pokemon that you hadn't taken care of as well as you usually do, you run off with it before I can talk to you about immunizing it, and then you walk back in here without a clue that you nearly walked into me from being in orbit, but nothing is wrong." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh... right." Misty sat down on the circular couch, frowning lightly as she asked, "Am I really losing my touch?"

"What makes you say that?" Joy asked, feigning cluelessness.

"Well..." Misty said hesitantly, and then tried to share her difficulties with the ditto. How she hatched it, how it had a mind of its own, and how she didn't think she did anything to deserve being ignored and disobeyed.

Joy giggled quietly, but couldn't resist a joke of, "Sounds like a boy to me." she then calmed her self and then said, "Well, have you tried to actually give it what it wants?"

"What? But you're not supposed to do that... its barely a couple weeks old, why won't it just stay nearby, in its pokeball and-"

"That right there is part of the problem... Pokeballs are only meant for taking pokemon traveling. On top of that you've got one stubborn pokemon that just seems to want to stay out. It hasn't tried to run away more than once right?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Hush..." joy said, putting a finger on misty's mouth, and ignoring the glare she got, continued, "you even said yourself all it wanted was a chance to stay out and be itself right?" Misty nodded, "So why can't you just let it out? Ash leaves pikachu out all the time... Why can't you let it for a while? Besides, its much better for newborns to be out in the world for a while before keeping them in pokeballs."

Misty shrugged and thought it over, but didn't see any reasons to complain.

"Now, about those vaccines... I did a check on its immune system and by the looks of it, we'll only need one or two shots."

Misty talked more with Joy about when to bring the ditto in for its checkup and then left the pokecenter feeling a lot better. She walked her way over to Oak's lab, feeling her resentment return but trying not to let it affect how she felt now that she was closer to her old somewhat cheerful self.

She went into the basement lab directly, looking around to see if they were inside or not.

"... and that would explain why I had a hard time walking." A male's voice echoed around the hall.

"We certainly made a lot of progress today. I hope to see just as much tomorrow!" Oak's familiar voice said, Misty following it instinctively upstairs to Oak's living room.

"You sure there aren't any forms I have to fill out?"

"Not a one. Oh hello again Misty." Oak said, setting his lemonade down on the coffee table and turning to face her.

"Hello oak... You sound happy." she said, mostly ignoring Lycian as he sat with his elbows on his knees, leaning forward as he set his glass down before he sat up again and faced her in a way she didn't recognize.

"Well, Lets just say I had a hard time continuing my work until now! He's been quite a help to me. I hope you'll continue to let me borrow him from you."

"I suppose I could." Misty said a little tensly, her frustration with him returning.

As if almost on queue, Lycian stood and without a word walked up to her until he was about an arms length away.

"Misty..." He said, his voice deep and yet quiet.

"Yes?" She replied, bracing herself for another reprimand from him.

"I'm... sorry."

"What?" She barely managed to gasp out. All the breath she had seemed to leave her as she listened to what he had to say.

"I'm still new here, and I didn't really have much of a clue what was going on. But i've forgotten that you've taken care of me for a while... I'm sorry I ran away from you, but..." he paused and took another deep breath before starting again, "I really would appreciate it if you could let me stay out more."

Misty stood there shocked, not sure what she should say. He let out all his breath in a single push, and then reached into her pack. She started to twist away, but his hand already clasped around the object he was searching for. She then watched as he took the pokeball, which was meant for him, and looked it over before turning to oak.

"so I just hit the pokemon with the little button here?"

Oak nodded, understanding what was being asked. Without any further hesitation, he closed his eyes and slowly hit his forehead with the pokeball, outline turning red before he was sucked inside.

Misty watched as the pokeball fell onto the carpet, landing with a small thud as she stared at it.

"Seems like we all learned something today didn't we?" Oak asked sagely.

"Yeah." she nodded. "And here I was about to tell him he could stay out more anyway.. and then he did this." She bent over and picked up the pokeball, still staring at it in its larger size.

"He understands more than you know..." Oak said, nodding again at what she said. "He knew you were upset and knew it was his fault. He told me it was his responsibility to fix what he did."

Misty shrunk down the pokeball and held it in her hand as she looked at Oak, staring at him in disbelief as the words Lycian spoke to her rang in her mind again. _I am not your dog..._

"He said that?"

"Yes, he did." Oak replied somberly. "I'm convinced this is a young man like yourself now, even if he is a pokemon now. As much as he could be from another country, or a whole different world from what he tells me! He's trying to do what he can, and if you think about it, how would you do in his shoes?"

"Yeah... I guess so." she said, finally snapping the pokeball onto her belt. "Well, its lasagna night at Delilah's house, you want to come?"

"Oh! Well I don't want to miss her cooking on her open house night now would I!" he said, getting up quickly for a man of his age, and then put his lab coat onto the coat rack, "After you..." He said opening the door.

Misty laughed, feeling the tension leave her at his behavior and then walked out as they both headed to delilah's for dinner.

(all right everyone, with the update of this chapter, I have redone the first chapter. Now don't bother to go back to it if you have read it, I just did a bit of moving... nothing too major, but when I noticed 90 hits to the first chapter and only 20 to the second, I wondered if that was part of the problem. If i'm missing something about why people might not be continuing on to following chapters (I was getting 3 to 5 the first 24 hours for any chapter after 2 aside from ch 7 and 8) Lemme know so I can try to keep you all coming again like in my romances please)


	9. unnamed chapter: in progress

"So, you finally finished."

"Yes, to every detail sir." The scientist replied. "I..." he paused slightly and then continued, "I realize I have not completed it quite on schedule, but-"

"You did put in the modifications I requested... correct?" The man said, emphasizing did in a way that made the head scientist shudder. His two bodyguards were simply for show, but it worked quite well to intimidate his workers.

"Of course! Of course!" he said quickly, feeling his voice go up an octave. He clasped his hands together nervously as his employer looked over the now assembled equipment and pressed buttons to watch it work.

"It is finally nice of the government spies I placed to be able to 'loan' me their equipment. Too bad they will never see it again... You are... quite certain it works I trust?" he said, turning to the scientist as he smiled.

The man did not like the smile, or the lilting way he asked, and felt very nervous as he tried to sound completely certain. "Completely. Granted we," he gulped, "Haven't had a chance to test it yet..."

"Well then... let's give you that chance to start it." The man snapped his fingers and the two bodyguards walked to the sides of the scientist, pinning his arms to his sides as they walked to the chamber of the machine.

"No! Let me go! Wait! Please!"

"Oh come now." The man said as his men pushed the scientist inside, locking the door in place and turning to face him at attention, their uniform's single letter reflecting the light from their chests. "You can't seriously ask me to just take you at your word again. After all, what better way to test your words than to be a part of your own experiment!"

There was an unintelligible scream as the scientist yelled out his dismay, before Giovanni selected the pokemon to turn him into and watched as the lights flashed.

A minute later the doors opened, the bodyguards already reaching in to pull the form out.

"How ironic." Giovanni commented idly as he watched the limp form be pulled out. "All this time I had to listen to your pathetic whimperings and complaints. How appropriate this must be, now that you are a bitch... Put her in the kennel with the others. We'll find out what she is capable of now, and if she's good enough stock..." He smirked as his men enjoyed the joke and took her away, commenting lewdly about whether the scientist would be gay if he was bred. He took a deep breath and let it out as he watched the houndoom being taken away before looking at the machine and thinking what powerful pokemon he would create from people...

Meanwhile at pallet town Lycian was continuing his research with oak, though now joined with Ash and Misty now that they knew what he was doing. Lycian had woken early the next morning and headed over immediately to Oak's lab, surprised he was also up that early.

"Ah! Good morning Lycian." Oak said, standing upright as he finished handing out bowls of food to the pokemon.

"I've been thinking... Ash mentioned at dinner last night that nearly everyone has pokemon and a lot of people are trainers."

"That's right, about half of the people in the world are trainers. That's not counting researchers and other people like myself who work with pokemon as a part of their job." Oak said, smiling as always.

"But, how can that work? If that many people aren't out working, then how do they earn enough money to live?"

"Well..." Oak replied thoughtfully, bringing his hand to his chin and resting the elbow on his crossed arm as he decided how to explain. "Being a trainer isn't free. In order to have your license you have to pay 100 poke a month." He paused until Lycian nodded. "When one trainer faces off against another, they automatically wager money on how well they do. Now that my pokedex's are-"

"poke-whats?"

"My... invention for giving information on pokemon you meet. Now that it's widely used by nearly every trainer, its being used as a bank for trainers. When they don't enter in an amount to wager, their pokedexes communicate with each other to determine an amount, based on how well they've both done."

"So these things figure out if you're fighting a contest or whatever automatically?"

"Not quite... The trainer wanting to fight has to have it out and tell it that they want to fight. Then when they point it at another trainer and when their challenge is accepted, it starts."

"Ok... so they fight, they wager money on how they do, the winner gets the money from the loser. Sounds simple enough. What happens when you run out of money?"

"Well..." Oak said quietly, obviously thinking with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "I'm actually not supposed to say this but when you run out of money, you have a week before you have to return to a police station and turn in your license. If you have no money, they just let you go with one pokemon that isn't allowed to fight at all, but is never to be kept in a pokeball."

"Ok... You make that sound like a bad thing."

"Well, most people are only told that they have to return to the police station within a week or face severe consequences. Since many trainers are very attatched to more than one of their pokemon, like ash, they try to resist and keep what they can. Any trainers who don't turn themselves in, or try to keep more than their one pokemon..." Oak hesitated.

"Go on..." Lycian said quietly, trying to urge Oak onward.

"They're turned into pokemon."

Lycian stared at Oak before it hit him just what was implied by being a wild pokemon. "Oh... well that would help solve any sort of overpopulation..." he tried to joke.

"Well, I ask you don't tell anyone. If the wrong hands knew about this technology, very bad things could happen!"

"Like what? They're just animal forms of you and me right?"

"What!" Oak said surprised. "You don- no, of course you don't... Nearly all pokemon have more power than people can make! It would be devastating if an evil person became a pokemon and did what they wanted!"

"Just what sort of power are we talking about here?"

"Well, I-" Oak started to say, but was interrupted by Ash and Misty rushing over, ash being the one shouting their arrival.

(this is my pausing point for now people. I still have another page-ish that I need to finish before i'm done for today's quota. Still, thought i'd post what i've done and let you all know I am back and updating as much as possible, which seems to be every other day on average. Try to check in on my work somewhat frequently, since watches/watchers don't get notified of chapter replacements or updates.)

(Oh and one more thing... One reader has commented to me about how he believes the story's mostly about learning how pokemon work and what it'd be like to be certain pokemon. I would like to clarify, partly with the reminder of that scene of elsewhere, that I do have a plot in mind, and this training/explination is only a way to show development over time. I don't like stories where they go "they trained for two months and learned how to do this this and this". I'm more the lets see what they go through and how hard it is/can be and how gradual their training is. Helps remind us heroes can still "only be human". If anyone wants to guess what I have in mind for plot, feel free to let me know... I'm still getting drowned (in my own sarcasm) in replies, and wouldn't mind a few more.)


End file.
